Germany gets most of its electricity from renewable sources, with wind and solar leading the way. In 2024, renewables covered 62.7% of the country’s net public electricity generation, a record high. The rest comes from natural gas, coal, and electricity imports from neighboring countries. Nuclear power is no longer part of the picture: Germany shut down its last three reactors in April 2023.
Wind Power Leads the Mix
Wind energy is Germany’s single largest electricity source, generating 136.4 terawatt-hours (TWh) in 2024 and accounting for 33% of net public electricity generation. The country had 63.6 gigawatts (GW) of onshore wind capacity installed by the end of 2024, spread across nearly 29,000 turbines, with additional offshore capacity in the North Sea and Baltic Sea.
Solar power contributed 14% of net public electricity generation in 2024. Germany has invested heavily in rooftop panels and solar farms, particularly in the sunnier southern states. Together, wind and solar alone covered nearly half of the country’s electricity production.
Biomass, hydropower, and other renewables fill in the remaining share to bring the total renewable contribution above 60%. Biomass plants, which burn wood, agricultural waste, or biogas, provide steady baseload power that wind and solar cannot always deliver.
Coal Is Shrinking but Not Gone
Germany still burns coal for electricity, though its role has dropped sharply. Lignite (brown coal), mined domestically in large open-pit operations, accounted for roughly 15% of gross electricity production in recent data. Hard coal, mostly imported, contributed about 6%. Combined, coal still makes up around a fifth of the generation mix, but that share has been falling year over year as renewables expand and older coal plants retire.
The country plans to phase out coal entirely, with most political targets pointing to 2030 in western Germany, though some eastern states with large lignite industries have pushed for a 2038 deadline.
Natural Gas: Where It Comes From Now
Natural gas plays a dual role in Germany. It fuels power plants that can ramp up quickly when wind and solar output drops, and it heats millions of homes and businesses. Before 2022, Russia supplied the majority of Germany’s gas. That era ended abruptly with the energy crisis triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In 2024, Germany’s top gas suppliers were Norway (48%), the Netherlands (25%), and Belgium (18%). Belgium’s share largely reflects liquefied natural gas (LNG) arriving at Belgian terminals and flowing into the German pipeline network. Germany also built its own LNG import terminals at remarkable speed. Facilities in Wilhelmshaven, Brunsbüttel, Lubmin, and Mukran handled 69 TWh of LNG in 2024, making up 8% of all gas imports. Much of this LNG originates from the United States, Qatar, and other global suppliers.
Germany Is Now a Net Electricity Importer
Since shutting down its nuclear plants, Germany has shifted from being a net electricity exporter to a net importer. In 2024, the country imported 67.0 TWh of electricity and exported just 35.1 TWh, leaving a net import balance of nearly 32 TWh. That’s a significant swing from the previous year, with imports rising 23% and exports falling 10%.
Most of this imported electricity comes from France (largely nuclear-generated), Scandinavia (hydro and wind), and other neighboring countries. Cross-border electricity trade is normal in Europe’s interconnected grid, and it often reflects price signals: Germany imports when wholesale prices are lower abroad, which tends to happen when French nuclear or Scandinavian hydro output is high.
The Nuclear Chapter Is Closed
Germany’s last three nuclear reactors were disconnected from the grid on April 15, 2023, completing a phase-out decision that traces back to 2011 in the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster. The original shutdown date was the end of 2022, but the government granted a brief extension through early 2023 to help manage the energy crisis. No commercial nuclear power is being generated in Germany today, and there are no plans to reverse course.
Germany’s 2030 Energy Targets
The country has legally binding goals under its Energiewende (energy transition) policy. By 2030, renewables are expected to cover 80% of total electricity demand, up from roughly 55% of gross consumption in 2024 (the gap between the 62.7% net generation figure and the 54.1% gross consumption figure reflects different ways of measuring the same system). Reaching 80% will require continued rapid buildout of wind farms, solar installations, and grid infrastructure.
The broader climate target is a 65% reduction in energy sector emissions by 2030, with full climate neutrality by 2045. To get there, Germany is also betting on hydrogen. The government expects national hydrogen demand to reach 95 to 130 TWh by 2030, with 50 to 70% of that needing to come from imports. Hydrogen is intended to decarbonize industries like steelmaking and chemicals that can’t easily switch to direct electrification.
The Big Picture
Germany’s energy system is in the middle of a massive transformation. Wind and solar now dominate electricity generation, coal is declining, nuclear is gone, and natural gas has been rerouted away from Russian pipelines toward Norwegian gas and global LNG. The tradeoff is greater dependence on electricity imports and a complex balancing act between intermittent renewables and dispatchable backup power. For a country with Europe’s largest industrial economy, getting this transition right carries enormous stakes, not just for Germany but for the continent’s energy security as a whole.