Update 12 April 2021:

Electricity consumption was higher over this Easter holiday than it was over the 2020 Easter holiday. However, the pattern described below was also present this year: while consumption was the highest on Maundy Thursday, a working day, it hovered at a lower but similar level on Good Friday and Holy Saturday. Electricity consumption on Easter Sunday was 1,045 GWh, which was approximately as low as on Easter Sunday in 2016 and 2017:

The table shows electricity consumption in gigawatt hours on the holidays.

Generation from renewable energy sources from Good Friday to Easter Monday was 3.2 TWh and exceeded the highest amount previously generated over an Easter holiday (2019: 2.8 TWh).
Thus renewables covered around 71.5% of total electricity consumption over the holiday. On Easter Monday, the day of the highest feed-in from renewables, coverage from renewables was 94.4%. From 3:15am to 5pm, with the exception of a few quarter hours, electricity consumption was met almost entirely by renewable generation.

The average wholesale price was €21.69/MWh. As in previous years the lowest price on the electricity exchange was reached on Easter Monday (minus 52.73 euros per megawatt hour).
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An overview of the electricity market at Easter, as at 1 April 2021:

Tomorrow, Good Friday, marks the start of the Easter holiday in Germany. This article should give some insight into what happens to electricity consumption, electricity generation and wholesale electricity prices over the holiday weekend. We’ve looked at data from Good Friday to Easter Monday for the years 2015 to 2020, and given a projection for 2021.

Electricity consumption

There is a recurrent pattern when comparing electricity consumption on the individual holidays since 2015: while consumption is always the highest on Maundy Thursday, a working day, it hovers at a lower but similar level on Good Friday and Holy Saturday.
Easter Sunday then usually marks the lowest level of electricity consumption over the Easter holiday, followed by a slight increase on Easter Monday. Electricity consumption over the Easter holiday was at its lowest level in 2020, the year of the coronavirus.

The table shows electricity consumption in gigawatt hours on the holidays.

Electricity generation

In 2020 the extended Easter holiday weekend was in the month of what was the sunniest April on record according to the national meteorological service (Deutscher Wetterdienst - DWD). This was also reflected in the April 2020 generation levels. Comparing years, however, it was 2019 and not 2020 that had the highest generation from renewable energy sources.
Around 2.8 terawatt hours (TWh) covered 67.3% of the electricity consumption (the grid load) from Good Friday to Easter Monday.

Wholesale electricity prices

The lowest wholesale electricity price was reached on Easter Monday 2019 (minus 83.01 euros per megawatt hour) between 2pm and 3pm. On this day generation from renewables covered electricity consumption (the grid load) for nearly eight consecutive hours. This also resulted in eight consecutive hours of negative wholesale prices. The average wholesale price for Germany on this day was minus 14.01 euros per megawatt hour.

A similarly low price of minus 78.15 euros per megawatt hour was reached on Easter Monday in 2020, also a coronavirus year. At minus 15.97 euros per megawatt hour the average price was, however, lower than in the previous year. This is especially due to the high number of hours of negative wholesale electricity prices, which led to a lower average. The price was negative for a total of 14 hours on this day. Electricity consumption was also down from the previous year.

Projections for Easter 2021

In addition to actual figures, forecasts for electricity generation and consumption are also published on SMARD. These figures can be tracked on the following chart over the Easter holiday. For forecasted generation you can also activate individual building blocks of renewable energy sources in the market data visuals section. There you can see estimated generation values for different renewable sources such as wind power plants and PV systems. The curve of the forecasted residual load shows the share of electricity consumed that fluctuating renewable energy sources will probably not be able to cover.

Here you can track market data over the next few days: