Germany’s energy transition hits reverse so far in 2025
8 May 2025
Clean energy sources generated the smallest amount of Germany’s electricity in over a decade so far in 2025, dealing a blow to the energy transition momentum of Europe’s largest economy. Electricity generation from clean power sources totalled just under 80 terawatt hours (TWh) during the first four months of the year, according to data from energy think tank Ember.
That clean energy volume is down 16% from the same months in 2024 and is the lowest for that period since at least 2015.
To compensate for the drop in clean electricity supplies, German power firms were forced to lift fossil fuel power output by 10% from a year ago, and the share of fossil fuels in the German generation mix has climbed to its highest since 2018.
A 31% drop in electricity production from wind farms has been the chief driver behind the lower clean energy supplies in Germany so far this year.
Just 39 TWh of wind-powered electricity was produced from January to April, which was the lowest wind total for that period since 2017 despite wind generation capacity in Germany climbing by roughly 30% in the intervening years.
Low wind speeds at turbine level were the main culprit behind the wind woes this year, and resulted in wind power’s share of Germany’s electricity production mix dropping from 34% in January to April 2024 to 24% for those months this year.
Data from: http://www.ag-energiebilanzen.de/
http://mazamascience.com/Published/Sources_BP_2010_consumption_mtoe_DE_MZM_NONE__.png
Phasing out by 2023 means that nuclear power would, as of 2010, be depleted by 2,800/(2,800+800) = 78%