According to preliminary data from the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), Germany generated and fed 121.5 billion kilowatt hours of electricity into the power grid in the first quarter of 2024. This represents a 7.5% decrease from the 131.4 billion kilowatt hours generated in the same period in 2023.

Despite this overall reduction, electricity production from renewable sources increased by 11.6% compared to the first quarter of 2023, with renewables accounting for 58.4% of the total electricity produced (up from 48.5% in Q1 2023). This marks the highest share of renewable energy in electricity generation for any first quarter since the survey began in 2018. Conversely, electricity generation from conventional sources dropped by 25.4%, making up 41.6% of the total domestic electricity production.

Wind power leads the charge with significant growth

Wind power saw the largest absolute increase among renewable energy sources, producing an additional 5.0 billion kilowatt hours, a 12.0% rise from the previous year. In the first quarter of 2024, wind power generated 46.8 billion kilowatt hours of electricity, constituting 38.5% of Germany's total electricity output. Wind power remained the leading energy source, improving from 31.8% in the first quarter of 2023.

Photovoltaic energy also saw a notable rise, with production increasing by 1.4 billion kilowatt hours (21.0%), totaling 8.1 billion kilowatt hours and comprising 6.6% of the total electricity generation.

Coal-fired electricity generation declines sharply

The decline in electricity from conventional sources is largely due to a significant reduction in coal-fired power. Compared to the first quarter of 2023, coal-generated electricity decreased by 11.0 billion kilowatt hours, a drop of 28.2%. Despite this reduction, coal remained the second most significant energy source, accounting for 23.0% of total electricity production in the first quarter of 2024.

Following the shutdown of Germany's last three nuclear power plants on April 15, 2023, no electricity was generated from nuclear energy in early 2024, whereas it had contributed 5.8 billion kilowatt hours (4.4%) in the same period of 2023. Additionally, electricity generation from natural gas decreased by 0.4 billion kilowatt hours (1.9%), resulting in 19.2 billion kilowatt hours and a 15.8% share of total production.

Source: Destatis

Surge in electricity imports and decline in exports

Germany saw a 38.5% increase in electricity imports in the first quarter of 2024, importing a total of 16.8 billion kilowatt hours, up from 12.1 billion kilowatt hours in the first quarter of 2023. Meanwhile, electricity exports dropped by 21.7%, totaling 16.7 billion kilowatt hours compared to 21.3 billion kilowatt hours in the previous year.

The rise in imports coupled with the fall in exports meant that the net amount of electricity available and in demand within Germany remained largely unchanged from the same quarter the previous year.