The Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW) and the German Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW) have published a preliminary report on Germany’s gross electricity consumption for the first half of 2026.
The report shows renewable energy sources covered 57.7% of gross electricity consumption in the first six months of the year, setting a new record. The figure is up from 55.2% in the first half of 2025 and slightly above the previous record of 57.4% in the first half of 2024.
Gross electricity consumption reached 262.4 TWh, compared with 260.9 TWh in the same period of 2025. The figure is calculated by subtracting the import-export balance from gross electricity generation.
Renewables also accounted for 57.7% of gross electricity generation in the first half of 2026, compared with 56.9% a year earlier, although below the 59.4% recorded in the first half of 2024.
Total gross electricity generation increased 4% year on year to 263.5 TWh, up from 253.4 TWh in the first half of 2025. Renewable electricity generation rose to 152.2 TWh from 144.1 TWh over the same period.
Onshore wind accounted for 20.1% of electricity generation in the first half of 2026, followed by solar at 19.9%, biomass at 8.3%, offshore wind at 5.7%, and hydropower at 2.7%.
Compared with the wind-poor first half of 2025, offshore wind generation increased 28.3% and onshore wind generation rose 7%. Solar generation climbed 3.7% year on year. Hydropower output fell 7.7% because of lower rainfall, while biomass generation increased 0.6%.
According to ZSW and BDEW, growth in wind and solar generation reflects both favorable weather conditions and continued capacity additions.
Germany added 8.3 GW of solar PV capacity in the first half of 2026, up from 7.8 GW in the same period of 2025. Onshore wind additions reached 2.5 GW, compared with 2.2 GW a year earlier. Offshore wind installations increased to 0.9 GW from 0.5 GW.
BDEW called on the German government to accelerate renewable energy deployment.
“The higher the share of renewable energies rises, the more independent we become from imports of fossil fuels and the more resilient our economy becomes to energy price shocks,” said Frithjof Staiß, managing director of ZSW. “The energy crises of recent months and years were triggered by fossil fuels, not by renewables.” He added that expanding renewable energy is “not only insurance against volatile energy prices, but also our sharpest weapon in the fight against climate change.”
Kerstin Andreae, chair of BDEW’s executive board, warned that the legislative framework needed to support renewable deployment is at risk. She called for faster progress on amendments to Germany’s Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) and Offshore Wind Energy Act, noting that both measures must be adopted by the end of the year and approved by the European Union.
“The first six months are over and there aren’t even any draft bills yet,” Andreae said. “We expect the federal government to reach a swift agreement so that we can move forward with the process, companies can invest, and the expansion targets can be achieved.”
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