At the beginning of the year, the share of electricity generated from renewable energy sources in the country climbed to almost 60 percent, reaching an all-time high. Among renewables, wind power is the most important energy source. Wind and water instead of coal and nuclear: The share of green electricity in Germany reached a record high in the first quarter. According to the Federal Statistical Office, 58.4 percent of the 121.5 billion kilowatt hours of electricity generated in the country came from renewable sources.
“This was the highest share of electricity from renewable energies for a first quarter since the beginning of the survey in 2018,” the office explained. However, this also applies to the period before that. “This is a record high,” it said.
Wind Power as the Main Energy Source
The largest absolute increase in electricity production from renewable energies was recorded by wind power, with an increase of 5.0 billion kilowatt hours (+12.0 percent). At the beginning of the year, 38.5 percent of all domestically produced electricity came from wind power. Thus, as in the first quarter of 2023, wind power remained the most important energy source. The second-largest absolute increase, with 1.4 billion kilowatt hours, was in electricity generation from photovoltaics (+21 percent). Overall, the share of electricity production here was 6.6 percent.
Sharp Decline in Coal Power
The significant decline in electricity generation from conventional energy sources is primarily due to a sharp drop in coal power generation. Electricity input from coal decreased by 11.0 billion kilowatt hours, or 28.2 percent. “With a share of 23.0 percent of total electricity production, coal remained the second most important energy source in the first quarter of 2024,” according to the statisticians.
As the last three nuclear power plants were shut down on April 15, 2023, there was no electricity input from domestically produced nuclear energy in the first quarter of 2024. Additionally, electricity input from natural gas decreased by 1.9 percent to 19.2 billion kilowatt hours, accounting for 15.8 percent of total electricity input.
