Renewable energy in Germany

Renewable energy in Germany is mainly based on wind, solar and biomass. In 2024, 59,0% (254,9 TWh of 431,7 TWh) of the electricity produced in Germany came from renewable Energies: 31,87% Wind (Onshore 25,92% + offshore 5,95%), Photovoltaics 14,66%, Biomass 8,33%, hydropower 3,97%.

Germany had the world's largest photovoltaic installed capacity until 2014, and as of 2025 it had over 100 GW. It is also one of the countries with the largest wind power installed capacity, at 75 GW in 2025, of which 9 GW was offshore wind. In 2009, Germany was called "the world's first major renewable energy economy".

The share of renewable energy in electricity production increased from 3.5% in 1990 to 52.4% in 2023. As with most countries, the transition to renewable energy in the transport and heating and cooling sectors has been considerably slower.

According to official figures, around 370,000 people were employed in the renewable energy sector in 2010, particularly in small and medium-sized companies. This is over twice the number of jobs in 2004 (160,500). About two-thirds of these jobs are attributed to the Renewable Energy Sources Act.

In 2023, 124.600 people worked in the wind industry.

Germany's federal government worked to increase renewable energy commercialization, with a particular focus on offshore wind farms. A major challenge has been the development of sufficient network capacities for transmitting the power generated in Northern Germany the North Sea to Southern Germany. Germany's energy transition, the Energiewende, gas designated a significant change in energy policy from 2011. The term encompasses a reorientation of policy from supply to demand and a shift from centralized to distributed generation (for example, producing heat and power in very small cogeneration units), which should replace overproduction and avoidable energy consumption with energy-saving measures and increased efficiency.