In the first half of the year, almost two thirds of German electricity came from green sources for the first time. The largest energy supplier is wind power. But coal still plays an important role.
At least when it comes to electricity production, it is clear that the German energy transition is making progress. Germany is increasingly supplying itself with electricity from renewable sources. In the first half of the year, electricity from wind, solar, water and biomass together accounted for more than 61.5 percent of the total energy mix for the first time.
How the figures of the Federal Statistical Office show that 220 billion kilowatt hours of electricity were generated in Germany from January to June and fed into the grid. Wind power accounts for the largest share of renewables in the electricity mix. The reason for this is the windy first half of the year.
Electricity from photovoltaics also records growth
About a third of the total, or 33 percent, came from wind power. A total of 73.5 billion kilowatt hours were produced in the first six months. This corresponds to an increase of 11.9 percent compared to the same period last year.
Thanks to additional systems installed, electricity generation from photovoltaics also increased by 8.3 percent – to 30.5 billion kilowatt hours. This corresponds to almost 14 percent of the total electricity volume.
Balcony power plants are booming: more and more systems are being installed and supplying electricity.
Coal is second most important Energy sources
But coal also continues to play an important role in the German electricity mix. It remains the second most important energy source, accounting for 20.9 percent of the total.
German coal-fired power plants generated 45.9 billion kilowatt hours, a good quarter (26.4 percent) less than a year earlier. This is the lowest electricity production from coal since the evaluation began in 2018.
More imports than exports
However, the statistics also make it clear that Germany is currently not completely covering its electricity needs itself. In the first half of the year, Germany imported a total of 23 percent more electricity and exported 15 percent less. This results in an import surplus of 9.8 billion kilowatt hours, while a year earlier, in the first half of 2023, a small export surplus of 2 billion kilowatt hours was still possible.
The total amount of electricity demanded in Germany remained almost unchanged at 229.9 billion kilowatt hours. Domestic electricity production fell by 5.3 percent to 220 billion kilowatt hours.