Green energy production in Germany reaches record level in first half of 2024

In the first half of 2024, Germany set a new record for renewable electricity generation, generating 140 terawatt-hours (TWh) of green energy, which accounted for 65% of net public electricity production. This represented a significant increase compared to previous years, as detailed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE based on data from energy-charts.info. The shift to renewable energy was accompanied by a continued decline in fossil fuel generation and falling electricity prices on the stock exchange.

Wind power remained the dominant source of electricity, generating 73.4 TWh compared to 66.8 TWh in the same period in 2023. This represented a net 34.1% of public electricity production, with onshore wind contributing 59.5 TWh and offshore wind contributing 13.8 TWh. Photovoltaic (PV) systems also saw significant growth, adding 32.4 TWh to the grid, up 15% from 28.2 TWh in the first half of the previous year. Hydropower production increased from 8.9 TWh in 2023 to 11.3 TWh in 2024, while biomass production fell slightly from 21.6 TWh to 20.8 TWh.

The total amount of electricity generated from renewable sources reached 140 TWh, a new record and increases the share of renewable energy in the load (including electricity consumption and grid losses) to 60%, up from 55.7% in the first half of 2023. This milestone reflects Germany’s continued commitment to a greener energy mix.

On the other hand, the share of electricity generated from fossil fuels reached its lowest level on record. Total electricity production in the first half of 2024 was 215 TWh, down from 222 TWh in the same period in 2023. The share of fossil fuels in the energy mix fell from 39.6% to 35.0%, with only 75 TWh generated from coal, natural gas, oil and non-renewable waste, the lowest level on record. Since 2015, electricity production from renewable sources has increased by 56%, while energy production from fossil sources has decreased by 46%.

Germany’s electricity load rose by 1.8% to 233 TWh in the first half of 2024, up from 229 TWh in the same period the previous year. Despite this increase in demand, the country managed to maintain a significant contribution from renewable energy.

The balance of electricity imports and exports also changed. In the first half of 2024, Germany had a net import surplus of 11.3 TWh, a significant change compared to the net export surplus of 0.8 TWh in the same period in 2023. Electricity imports came mainly from Scandinavia, France, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands, due to lower prices for wind and hydropower in Scandinavia. Germany, in turn, exported electricity to Austria, the Czech Republic, Luxembourg and Poland.

The electricity exchange prices fell sharply, falling from EUR 100.54/MWh to EUR 67.94/MWh. Dr. Bruno Burger, Chief Scientist Energy Charts at Fraunhofer ISE, noted that this decline in electricity exchange prices will ultimately benefit private and industrial end customers. The price of natural gas also fell significantly, from EUR 44.99/MWh to EUR 29.71/MWh, approaching the level before the war in Ukraine. The cost of CO2 emission rights fell from EUR 86.96 to EUR 63.60 per ton of CO2.

Despite strong growth in photovoltaic capacity, with 6.2 GW installed by the end of May 2024 and a planned total expansion of 12.5 GW for the full year, wind power expansion lagged behind targets. In the first half of 2024, only 0.8 GW of new onshore wind capacity and 0.2 GW offshore were added, well below the targets of 7 GW onshore and 1 GW offshore. Brandenburg was the leader in installed wind and photovoltaic capacity per capita.

The expansion of electricity storage facilities continued, with 1.8 GW of storage systems and a capacity of 2.5 GWh connected to the grid in the first half of 2024. The total installed capacity of battery storage facilities reached 9.9 GW, which is equivalent to the capacity of pumped-storage facilities, with the capacity of battery storage facilities amounting to 14.4 GWh and pumped-storage facilities 40 GWh.

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