Renewable energy produced around 69 billion kWh of electricity in Germany in the first three months of 2023 which was enough to meet about 50% of the power consumption in the country in this period.
The increase in the share of renewables is partly due to the drop in power demand as a result of the crisis. In the first quarter of this year, electricity consumption was about 6% below the level in the same period of 2022, according to preliminary calculations by the Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Wuerttemberg (ZSW) and the Federal Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW).
Although the first quarter of 2023 witnessed a 4.3% decrease in green power production, the share of renewables in gross electricity generation continued to rise, reaching 47.1%.
Onshore wind parks alone produced nearly 38 billion kWh of power and supplied more than one-quarter of the electricity consumed in Germany in the three months. Onshore wind was the biggest single source of electricity in Germany’s power production between January and March with a share of 25.7%, followed by coal with 17.7%. Coal-fired power plants added 26 billion kWh to the country’s power mix, down from 28.7 billion kWh in the first quarter of 2022.
The table below provides more details about power generation from renewable energy in Germany in the first quarter of 2023.
| in billion kWh | Q1 2021 | Q1 2022 | Q1 2023 |
| Total renewable energy | 59.5 | 72.6 | 69.5 |
| Hydro | 4.5 | 4.4 | 4.3 |
| Onshore wind | 27.1 | 38.0 | 37.9 |
| Offshore wind | 7.5 | 7.6 | 6.9 |
| Solar PV | 7.4 | 9.7 | 7.8 |
| Biomass | 11.6 | 11.5 | 11.3 |
| Municipal waste | 1.4 | 1.4 | 1.2 |
| Geothermal | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Renewables share in total power generation | 38.5% | 45.1% | 47.1% |
In the first quarter of 2023, gross power generation in Germany declined 8% to 148 billion kWh. Conventional energy sources produced 78 billion kWh, down from 88 billion kWh a year earlier.
