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Renewables Reach Record 58% Share of German Electricity Consumption
Renewable sources supplied 58% of Germany's power use in the first half of 2026, up from 55.8% a year earlier. The rise came from higher solar and wind output despite lower hydropower.
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com reported, citing estimates from the ZSW research center and BDEW association. Renewable plants generated 152.2 billion kilowatt hours from January through June. Germany installed 8.3 GW of new solar capacity and 2.5 GW of new onshore wind capacity during the period.
Onshore wind additions exceeded the 2.2 GW recorded in the first half of 2025. Hydropower generation fell 7.7% year on year because of lower rainfall. Wind power generation rose 27% in the first quarter of 2026 compared with a year earlier, according to an IWR analysis.
Germany added an estimated 5 GW of wind capacity in 2025, and more favorable wind speeds early this year supported the increase. The country aims to install 10 GW of wind capacity annually and reach an 80% renewable share of electricity generation by 2030. The ZSW and BDEW associations called for faster adoption of legislative amendments to provide greater certainty for investors.
"The sharp increase in wind power generation has eased the electricity market. Without this growth, Germany would have had to rely more heavily on comparatively expensive gas-fired power plants - with correspondingly higher stock exchange electricity prices," Dr. Norbert Allnoch, chief executive of the IWR, said in April.
