In the 1st half of 2024, 220 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity were generated in Germany and fed into the grid. According to provisional results from the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), this was 5.3 per cent less electricity than in the 1st half of 2023 (232.3 billion kilowatt-hours).
Renewable energy on the rise
Despite this overall decline, electricity production from renewable energy sources rose by 9.1 per cent compared with the 1st half of 2023 to 135.2 billion kilowatt-hours. This represented 61.5 per cent (1st half of 2023: 53.3 %) of total domestic electricity production and was the highest proportion of renewable electricity recorded for a 1st half-year since data collection began in 2018. By contrast, electricity generation from conventional energy sources fell by 21.8 per cent compared with the 1st half of 2023, accounting for 38.5 per cent of domestic electricity production (1st half of 2023: 46.7 %).
Electricity generation from wind power rose by 11.9 per cent in the 1st half of 2024 compared with the 1st half of 2023, from 65.5 to 73.4 billion kilowatt-hours. This increase was the result of an exceptionally windy 1st half of 2024. With a share of one third (33.3 %), wind power was by far the most important energy source in domestic electricity production in the 1st half of 2024. Electricity generation from photovoltaics also increased: rising by 8.3 per cent compared with the 1st half of 2023, the amount fed into the grid grew from 28.2 to 30.5 billion kilowatt-hours. This represented 13.9 per cent of the total volume of electricity.
Conventional energy sources remain important
The amount of electricity generated in coal-fired power stations fell by 26.4 per cent in the 1st half of 2024 compared with the same period of the previous year. With a share of 20.9 per cent of total electricity generation (1st half of 2023: 26.9 %), however, coal remained the second most important energy source for domestic electricity production.
Electricity production from natural gas fell slightly in the 1st half of 2024 compared with the same period of the previous year and, with a share of 14.6 per cent of total electricity generation, remained the third most important energy source in electricity production. Following the shutdown of Germany’s last three nuclear power stations on 15 April 2023, no domestically generated nuclear power was fed into the grid in the 1st half of 2024.