Europe's largest economy sees green power stagnate amid 'historic' wind lull

The share of green power in Europe’s largest economy stagnated in 2025 amid a “historic” wind lull at the beginning of the year – but still reached a high level.

The share of renewables in German electricity consumption rose slightly by 0.7 percentage points to 55.8% when compared to 2024, as a surge in solar power compensated for weather-related decreases at wind and hydro power, preliminary data from Germany’s Federation of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW) and the Baden-Württemberg centre for solar energy and hydrogen research (ZSW) showed.

BDEW chairwoman Kerstin Andreae stressed the importance of sticking to Germany’s target to reach a renewables share of 80% in 2030.

“With a renewable share of 56% of electricity consumption in 2025, the Energiewende (energy transition) is the basis for the future viability and resilience of our economy and must therefore be pursued consistently,” Andreae said.

“It's like the Tour de France: those who let up halfway through risk being overtaken.”

To reach such a high renewable penetration, green power must be backed up through flexible capacity, such as hydrogen-ready gas-fired power plants and a European capacity market, she said, adding that stronger power grids were also needed.

ZSW managing director Frithjov Staiss cautioned that there is a growing uncertainty regarding the future legal framework of renewables.

“Therefore, clarity on the further regulatory design for the various market segments is needed as soon as possible in order to continue this success story," he said, adding that it is important to continue pursuing a broad technology mix in generation to even out weather-related seasonal variations. Battery storage and biomass power plants were further alternatives, he said.

Historically low winds

Winds were historically low in 2025, particularly during the first quarter of this year, with March being registered as the lowest wind month since data were registered in 1950, the data showed.

That pushed the share of onshore wind in Germany’s power mix down by one percentage point to 20.7%, while that of offshore wind remained unchanged at 5%.

Lower than average rainfall also resulted in a decrease of hydro power by one percentage point to 3.1%.

Solar capacity installation records of around 17GW in each 2024 and 2025 led to a surge in solar power to 17.6% in Germany’s power mix this year, up from 14.8% last year. That meant that even in relatively cloudy Germany, solar energy produced more than 10TWh of electricity each month from April to August.

Biomass accounted for another 8.3% of the country's power consumption, and electricity from waste for 1.1%. The remaining 44.2% were met from fossil sources.

The BDEW and ZWS power consumption figures include electricity imports. Renewables accounted for 57.9% of domestic power generation.