In the first quarter of 2026, Germany generated and fed into the power grid 126.6 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity. According to provisional figures released by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) on Tuesday, this marked an increase of 6.0 percent compared to the first quarter of 2025, when production stood at 119.5 billion kWh.
Renewable sources accounted for more than half of the domestically generated electricity, representing 53.3 percent. Overall, power generation from renewable sources rose by 13.9 percent compared to the previous year’s quarter, reaching 67.5 billion kWh. This is a significant increase from the 49.6 percent share seen in the first quarter of 2025.
Conversely, conventional energy sources saw a decline. Power generation from conventional fuels decreased by 1.8 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026, totaling 59.1 billion kWh. This contributed to a share of 46.7 percent in the total national power production, down from 50.4 percent in Q1 2025.
The surge in renewable production was primarily driven by a notable increase in wind power generation. Wind energy output rose by 28.8 percent compared to Q1 2025, reaching 42.8 billion kWh. This boosted its share of total domestic electricity production to 33.8 percent (up from 27.8 percent), maintaining wind power as the most important fuel source. It should be noted, however, that while wind production was high year-on-year, the average output in the first quarter of 2026 was comparable to the preceding year; the substantial increase relative to Q1 2025 was due to an exceptionally low-wind first quarter in 2025.
In contrast to wind power, photovoltaic generation fell by 7.4 percent compared to the previous year, dropping to 10.3 billion kWh. Its share of the overall electricity mix subsequently decreased to 8.1 percent (from 9.3 percent in Q1 2025).
Among conventional energies, electricity production from coal fell by 5.1 percent year-on-year, totaling 30.5 billion kWh. Coal maintained its position as the second most important energy source, accounting for 24.1 percent of total domestic production (down from 26.9 percent in Q1 2025). Meanwhile, power generated from natural gas increased by 3.2 percent compared to the previous year, reaching 25.4 billion kWh. However, due to the overall increase in generated and fed-in electricity, the share of natural gas in the mix slightly decreased to 20.0 percent (down from 20.6 percent in Q1 2025).
Furthermore, the statistics showed that Germany’s electricity imports fell by 15.5 percent compared to the previous year’s quarter, totaling 16.4 billion kWh (down from 19.4 billion kWh in Q1 2025). In contrast, electricity exports increased significantly by 20.4 percent to 19.5 billion kWh (up from 16.2 billion kWh in Q1 2025). With a trade surplus of 3.1 billion kWh, Germany became a net electricity exporter for an entire quarter for the first time since the fourth quarter of 2023.
