Germany's electrical grid is part of the Synchronous grid of Continental Europe. In 2020, due to COVID-19 conditions and strong winds, Germany produced 484 TW⋅h of electricity of which over 50% was from renewable energy sources, 24% from coal, and 12% from natural gas. This is the first year renewables represented more than 50% of the total electricity production and a major change from 2018, when a full 38% was from coal, only 40% was from renewable energy sources, and 8% was from natural gas.
Germany's installed capacity for electric generation increased from 121 gigawatts (GW) in 2000 to 218 GW in 2019, an 80% increase, while electricity generation increased only 5% in the same period.
Even though renewables production increased significantly between 1991 and 2017, fossil power production remained at more or less constant levels. In the same period, nuclear power production decreased due to the phase-out plan, and much of the increase in renewables filled the gap left behind by closing nuclear power plants. However 2019 and 2020 saw significant reductions in electricity generation from fossil fuel, from 252 TW⋅h in 2018 to 181 TW⋅h in 2020. The German government decided to phase-out nuclear power by end of 2022, however this has been delayed until April 2023 due to supply disruption caused by the war in Ukraine, meaning that future growth in renewables will be needed to fill the gap again. Germany also plans to phase out coal by 2038 or earlier.
Electricity prices
German electricity prices in 2020 were 31.47 euro cents per kW⋅h for residential customers (an increase of 126% since 2000), and 17.8 euro cents per kW⋅h for non-residential customers (21.8 with taxes).
German households and small businesses pay the highest electricity price in Europe for many years in a row now. More than half of the power price consists of components determined by the state (53%). These Taxes, levies and surcharges have tripled since 2000 [from 5.19 to 16.49 Euro Cents]. These include levies for financing investment in renewable energy (22.1%) and for other kinds of taxes (e.g. GST 19%). Grid charges account for almost 25%, and only the remaining 22% are used to actually generate the electricity.
International electricity trade
Germany exported 70,237 GWh of electricity and imported 51,336 GWh in 2021. Germany is the second largest exporter of electricity after France, representing about 10% of electricity exports worldwide. Germany has grid interconnections with neighboring countries representing 10% of domestic capacity.
Electricity per person and by power source
Germany produced power per person in 2008 equal to the EU-15 average (EU-15: 7,409 kWh/person) and 77% of the OECD average (8,991 kW⋅h/person).
On 8 May 2016 renewables supplied 87.6% of Germany's national electricity consumption, albeit under extremely favourable weather conditions.
Mode of production
According to the IEA the gross production of electricity was 631TW⋅h in 2008 which gave the seventh position among the world top producers in 2010. The top seven countries produced 59% of electricity in 2008. The top producers were the United States (21.5%), China (17.1%), Japan (5.3%), Russia (5.1%), India (4.1%), Canada (3.2%) and Germany (3.1%).
In 2020, Germany generated electricity from the following sources: 27% wind, 24% coal, 12% nuclear, 12% natural gas, 10% solar, 9.3% biomass, 3.7% hydroelectricity.
Coal
In 2008, power from coal supplied 291TW⋅h or 46% of Germany's overall production of 631TW⋅h, but this dropped to 118TW⋅h (24%) in 2020. In 2010 Germany was still one of the world's largest consumers of coal at 4th place behind China (2,733TW⋅h), USA (2,133TW⋅h) and India (569TW⋅h). By 2019 it had fallen to 8th, behind smaller countries such as South Korea and South Africa.
Germany has shut all hardcoal mines by the end of 2018, but still has large open pit mines for lignite in the Western and Eastern parts of the country.
In January 2019 the German Commission on Growth, Structural Change and Employment initiates Germany's plans to entirely phase out and shut down the 84 remaining coal-fired plants on its territory by 2038.
Nuclear power
Germany has defined a firm active phase-out policy of nuclear power. Eight nuclear power plants were permanently shut down after the Fukushima accident. All nuclear power plants are to be phased out by the end of 2022. According to BMU this is an opportunity for future generations.