Renewable Electricity Generation in Germany

Overview

The share of renewable energies in Germany's gross electricity consumption reached over 54 percent in 2024. This is the second year in a row in which more than half of our electricity consumption has come from renewable energies.

The increase in renewable energies can now look back on a long success story. For effective climate protection, a share of 100 % should be targeted well before 2040. To achieve this, however, the pace of deployment will have to be stepped up considerably. It will not be possible to comply with the Paris climate protection agreement with the current low rate of expansion.

The consumption sectors heat and transport are not considered here. In the course of the transformation of our energy system known as sector coupling, electricity consumption will increase in the future: Heat pumps and electromobility offer alternatives without fossil fuels. The expansion of renewables must also keep pace with this rising demand in the future. A successful energy transition will require over 500 TWh of photovoltaics, 580 TWh of onshore wind and 270 TWh of offshore wind. So around four fifths of the energy transition still lies ahead of us.

Until the early 1990s, only one renewable source had a significant share of electricity generation in Germany: hydroelectric power. While the share of the hydroelectric power was still well over 20 percent in the middle of the 20th century, this share has declined in the past decades due to the sharp increase in consumption despite further expansion of hydroelectric power.

Since the mid-1990s, wind power has gained a noticeable share of renewable generation. In 2004, it overtook hydroelectric power as the most important source of renewable energy and has been in undisputed first place ever since.

In 2007, electricity generation from biomass came in second place ahead of hydroelectric power for the first time. Although biomass was able to double its contribution to electricity generation to 50 TWh by 2014, this also marked the end of growth. Since then, electricity generation from biomass has moved sideways, contributing 49 TWh to Germany's electricity supply in 2024.

In 2012, photovoltaics also overtook hydroelectric power, and in 2022, biomass. However, the expansion of photovoltaics collapsed, meaning that it took until 2022 for biomass to be overtaken.In the years 2023 and 2024, record growth rates were recorded again. Today, photovoltaics is the undisputed number two renewable energy source in Germany.

In 2014, renewables produced more electricity than lignite for the first time. Less than 10 years later, they represent more than all fossil fuels combined. The trend is clear and will continue to gain momentum thanks to favourable economic conditions. However, there is still a long way to go before the energy supply is completely based on renewable energies.

The following tables and graph show the absolute generation of the respective renewable energy sources in Germany since 1990 as well as the share of renewable energies in gross electricity generation.

The development of installed power plant capacity in Germany is described in a separate article.

Renewable Electricity Generation in Germany since 1990

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