Germany's electricity mix in 2024 'cleanest ever' – researchers
Clean Energy Wire
The share of renewable energy in net public electricity generation in Germany in 2024 reached a record high of 63.7 percent, with solar power smashing government expansion targets and coal use continuing to drop sharply, according to data from Fraunhofer ISE.
The solar energy research institute said an increase in renewables and a drop in coal-fired power meant the electricity mix "was lower in CO2 emissions than ever before." Emissions from electricity generation have halved since 2014 and are 58 percent lower than at the start of data collection in 1990, continued Fraunhofer ISE. However, Germany's emissions intensity remains above that of many other EU member states.
Fraunhofer ISE says net public electricity supply is "the electricity mix that actually comes out of the socket at home". It includes only electricity generation from power plants for public supply and not for large industry or the electricity which power plants use to operate. In contrast, Germany's target to reach an 80 percent renewables share by 2030 refers to gross power consumption. As large industry still often uses coal or gas plants, the renewables share in gross power consumption is several percentage points lower than the share in public supply. The share of renewables in gross power consumption was around 55 percent in 2024.
While solar electricity production jumped 18 percent, wind power remained Germany's most important electricity source in 2024. Still, last year was a "weaker year for wind than 2023," and the country is far behind on its wind energy targets. Last year was also the first one since 1962 without nuclear electricity produced in Germany, after the country's last three power plants shuttered in 2023. The use of fossil gas remained steady at 9.5 percent. Battery storage is also developing rapidly, with installed capacity climbing from 8.6 gigawatts in 2023 to 12.1 GW in 2024.
Net electricity imports rose to 24.9 terawatt hours (TWh) in 2024, mainly due to the low summer electricity prices in nearby countries like France and Denmark.
According to newly published figures from the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA), the average wholesale electricity price on the day-ahead market in 2024 was 78.51 euros per megawatt hour, compared to 95.18 euros/MWh in 2023. That corresponds to a 17.5% drop.
