Renewable Energy's Pivotal Role in 2024's Public Power Generation

In the pivotal year of 2024, wind energy emerged as the key power source in Germany, registering an impressive 136.4 Terawatt-hours (TWh). This accounted for 33% of the total public power production. However, 2024 experienced a small dip in wind output, producing 139 TWh compared to the preceding year. Onshore wind energy fell from 115.3 TWh in 2023 to 110.7 TWh in 2024, but offshore production increased slightly to 25.7 TWh from the previous year's 23.5 TWh. Notwithstanding, wind energy expansion has yet to catch up with the expected projections. Up to November, Germany had only managed to construct 2.4 Gigawatts (GW) onshore, far below the intended 7 GW. The growth of offshore facilities, however, showed promising progress compared to previous years, achieving a new record of 0.7 GW.

The Impressive Influence of Photovoltaic Installations on Power Production

Photovoltaic systems experienced a banner year, generating 72.2 TWh in 2024. Grid operators fed 59.8 TWh into the public grid, while the rest was employed for personal consumption. This marked an 18% increase on the preceding year, with a total rise of 10.8 TWh. Photovoltaics constituted 14% of the total public net electricity production, with July 2024 witnessing the highest solar power generation of 8.7 TWh. Contrary to wind energy, photovoltaic expansion successfully exceeded government targets for the second consecutive year. By November, the installation had already achieved 13.3 GW, surpassing the target of 13 GW. With the full data for 2024 yet to be confirmed, it is anticipated that the total will land at a staggering 15.9 GW by the end of the year, demonstrating photovoltaics' robust double digits growth.

Hydroelectric and Biomass Energy: Reliable Pillars of Power Generation

Hydroelectric power production was consistent with the preceding year, producing approximately 21.7 TWh with a stable installed capacity of 6.4 GW. Similarly, biomass power generation balance remained unaltered, contributing 36 TWh of electricity with an unchanging installed capacity of 9.1 GW.

The Unprecedented Success of Renewables Reflects in 2024's Figures

Overall, renewable energies produced a remarkable 275.2 TWh of electricity, showing a 4.4% increase over the previous year. Renewable participation in Germany's power mix — the electricity taken directly from the socket — rising from 55.3% in 2023 to 56% in 2024. This data is in line with the BDEW industry association's projected figures released in December.

Taking into account both public net power generation and private industrial and commercial generation — a sector dominated by gas — renewable energies contributed 58.6% of total net power generation. This marked a significant increase on the previous year when renewables accounted for 54.7%.

This increase in the renewable energy share, combined with a reduction in coal-fired electricity production, led to the most CO2 efficient power generation ever recorded — emission levels fell by half from 312 million tonnes CO2 in 2014 to approximately 152 million tons per year. CO2 emissions from electricity generation were 58% lower than when records began in 1990.

Overall electricity demand — not including power consumption and losses from storages and conventional power plants — remained consistently high, increasing slightly from 458 TWh to 462 TWh. However, it should be noted that solar power for personal consumption rose to around 12.4 TWh, which does not technically count towards the overall electricity demand but clearly indicates overall increased power consumption trends.

The Booming Growth of Battery Storage Solutions

As Germany continues to ramp up production from renewable sources, the need for storage capacity increases in tandem. Decentralized battery storage solutions have proven highly effective at smoothing the variations in wind and solar power production. As such, together with a new home photovoltaic system, homeowners are commonly installing them.

However, for most smaller installations, significant opportunities for network improvement or incentive systems have yet to be realized. Yet, on the large-scale storage front, installed capacity could multiply in the coming years if all envisioned projects get successfully executed.

Battery power capacity dramatically increased in 2024 to 12.1 GW from the previous year's 8.6 GW. Storage capacity also saw impressive growth, rising from 12.7 GWh to 17.7 GWh. However, German pumped storage power capacity remained fixed at approximately 10 GW.

2024: A Year of Power Generation sans Nuclear Energy in Germany

For the first time since 1962, an entire calendar year (2024) rolled by in Germany without the generation of power from nuclear reactors. This followed the switching off of the final trio of nuclear power plants in April 2023 namely Emsland A, Neckarwestheim 2, and Isar 2. These plants contributed 6.3% of public electricity generation in their final year of operation. However, there was no power shortage as renewable energy seamlessly filled the gap.

The Dwindling Role of Coal in Public Power Generation

The year 2024 saw a steady decline in the public net power generation from coal plants in Germany. The contribution of energy generated from brown coal stood at 71.1 TWh, marking an 8.4% fall from the previous year’s figures (77.6 TWh). This was topped up by the inclusion of 1.3 TWh for industrial self-consumption. More significantly, the net production from hard coal power plants shrank to 24.2 TWh, down by a whopping 27.6% year on year with no more hard coal power being channelled for industrial self-consumption.

For historical comparisons, the gross power generation must be examined since data for net power generation is only available from 2002. The total gross power generation from brown and hard coal is estimated to have been around 108 TWh. Such low levels were last witnessed in Germany in the year 1957.

Natural gas presented an alternative for power generation, with 48.4 TWh contributing to public power supply, a rise of 9.5% as compared to the previous year. An additional 25.6 TWh was generated for industrial internal supply.

Rise in Power Import and Fluctuations in Energy Market Price

The year 2023 marked an important change in Germany's energy scenario with the nation registering a positive energy import surplus of 9.2 TWh. This was primarily due to the lower power production costs in the European countries during summer, coupled with the hefty CO2 certificate costs. The import tally rose to 24.9 TWh in 2024, largely due to the lower energy costs offered by neighbouring countries in the summer. The primary countries exporting power to Germany were France, Denmark, Switzerland and Norway. In contrast, Germany was seen exporting power to Austria, Poland, Luxembourg and the Czech Republic.

Notable increases in energy market prices featured during November and December. The effect of this surge in prices rendered fossil fuel power generation momentarily more profitable than it was in the summer of 2024, consequently, imports dipped. Unlike its neighbouring countries like Austria, Switzerland, and France, Germany had sufficient power plant capacities to produce electricity for export even during the winter.

The average volume-weighted Day-Ahead energy market price fell by 15.5% to €78.01/MWh or 7.8 cents/kWh (2023: €92.29/MWh or 9.23 cents/kWh). Thus, the market price was placed below the level of the year 2021 (€93.36/MWh). Interestingly, an abnormal spike in the market energy price was witnessed in 2022 when it touched €230.57/MWh due to a crisis triggered by the attack on Ukraine and the accompanying unavailability of numerous nuclear power stations in France.