© fotolia / Knipserin

This month in ‘What the press say’:

For the first time, the world has generated more electricity from renewables than from coal; the world’s first floating vertical PV installation; a dam in Brandenburg reminding us of floods, open-cast mining and climate change.

tagesschau.de, 7 October 2025: “For the first time, more electricity was generated from renewables than from coal” (in German only)

For the first time this first semester of 2025, more electricity was generated from renewables than from coal. According to the Tagesschau news bulletin, this is mostly attributable to a rise in electricity generated from solar energy. The solar boom is led by China.

rbb24.de, 8 October 2025: “Spremberg dam: between floods, open-cast mining and climate change” (in German only)

In its online edition, public broadcaster rbb tells us about the history of Spremberg dam (Brandenburg). The feature shows not only the impact of open-cast mining, but also of climate change. The dam was built 60 years ago to protect the area from flooding – now it serves to keep the water level of the river Spree up. 

solarserver.de, 13 October 2025: “World’s first floating vertical PV installation enters operation” (in German only)

A vertical, floating PV installation with 1.7 MW of capacity has started to operate on a quarry pond in the Starnberg rural district, Bavaria. It covers less of the water surface than traditional floating PV systems and could therefore become an option for smaller bodies of water, according to Solarserver.