The winter also left its mark on the production of renewable energies. Ice buildup on rotors and snow cover on panels made for a weak start to the year in Germany. "It shows that diversification across several countries in a portfolio makes sense and can also compensate for such losses", says Markus W. Voigt, CEO of aream Group.

For example, while solar power production in this country was only 73 percent of target, Spain's yield was well above average at 122 percent, even offsetting Italy's 91 percent production. " Together, production in relation to actual solar radiation is exactly 100 percent of target", says Voigt. 

Snow was mainly responsible for the below-average production in Germany. Depending on the location, the modules were covered with snow for between five and seven days and were unable to produce at all or only to a very limited extent during this time", says Voigt.

Comparable is also true for the wind turbines. "In some parks, the rotor blades showed ice buildup and therefore could not be started up for safety reasons", says Voigt. In addition, the wind was initially quite weak, so that the production target was missed. "These effects will continue to run into February." Over the year as a whole, however, the values will balance out again thanks to the spread across regions and energy types.