2023-11-02 05:10:02
BERLIN (dpa-AFX) – According to forecasts, energy consumption in Germany will fall to a record low this year, mainly due to the contraction in economic performance. The Arbeitsgemeinschaft Energiebilanzen (AG Energiebilanzen) expects a drop of almost eight percent compared to the previous year, or 10,784 petajoules (2996 terawatt hours). Consumption would thus be almost 28 percent lower than the record level of 14,905 petajoules reached in 1990, the AG Energiebilanzen said on Thursday in Berlin. To put things in perspective: in 2022, Germany consumed 484 terawatt hours of electricity and 847 terawatt hours of natural gas according to the Federal Network Agency. One terawatt hour corresponds to one billion kilowatt hours.
Energy consumption in Germany in 2023 was particularly marked by economic development, it was clarified: “The economic performance this year could be reduced by around 0.5 percent.” It was especially industrial branches with high energy consumption that recorded reductions in production, which had a significant impact on energy consumption. Warmer weather than the previous year also had a reduction in consumption. According to AG calculations, around a fifth of the total percentage reduction in consumption is due to weather conditions.
A third effect of reducing consumption results from the level of energy prices. “Certainly, the prices of the main imported energies fell significantly during the year. Prices nevertheless remain significantly higher than the 2021 level.” It is assumed that the persistence of high prices has led to savings, but also led to a reduction in energy-intensive production.
On the other hand, demographic change has an effect of increasing consumption. Thus, the arrival of 1.35 million people due to migration would lead to an increase in energy consumption of around 200 petajoules /tob/DP/zb.
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