Electricity generation from renewable and conventional energy sources totalled 44.4 TWh in December 2020, which was around 1.8% below the December 2019 amount of 45.2 TWh.

Electricity consumption decreased by 0.2% from 41.5 TWh to 41.4 TWh.

Highest and lowest outputs of renewable electricity generation

Electricity generation from renewable energy sources reached its highest level of around 50.8 GWh on Sunday 27 December between 12pm and 1pm when electricity consumption totalled 54.2 GWh. During this time Storm “Hermine” led to high infeed from onshore wind farms at 36.6 GWh, accounting for the largest share (72.1%) of renewable generation. Solar generated a further 4.8 GWh (9.5%) and offshore wind farms generated 3.4 GWh (6.7%). Generation from biomass and hydropower in this time period was 4.6 GWh (9.1%) and 1.2 GWh (2.4%), respectively. The remaining 0.2 GWh came from other renewables.

Generation from renewable sources was at its lowest level of 8.2 GWh on Thursday 10 December between 3pm and 4pm when electricity consumption totalled 68.9 GWh. At 4.6 GWh, generation from biomass accounted for the largest share of renewable generation (56.1%) during this time period, followed by hydropower with 1.7 GWh (20.7%) and onshore wind farms with 0.9 GWh (11.0%). Offshore wind farms, solar and other renewables generated 1.0 GWh (12.2%).

The chart illustrates actual electricity generation and consumption in Germany in December 2020.

The wholesale electricity price in Germany

Wholesale prices for electricity were higher compared to a year earlier. In December, the hourly products on the EPEX Spot day-ahead market were traded at between minus 33.58 and plus 114.00 euros per megawatt hour (€/MWh), resulting in an average price of €43.52/MWh. This was €11.55/MWh higher than the average price in the same month of the previous year (December 2019: €31.97/MWh). This is due in particular to the lower feed-in of renewable energy.

In the night from 26 to 27 December negative wholesale prices were recorded in nineteen consecutive hours due to the high renewable energy output as a result of Storm “Hermine”. In this connection, the lowest wholesale price for the month of December was recorded on Sunday 27 December between 6am and 7am and amounted to minus 33.58 euros per megawatt hour. In this hour, generation from renewables was at 40.7 GWh, while electricity consumption was at 41.6 GWh. Negative wholesale electricity prices were recorded in 25 of the 744 hours of trading in December 2020, compared to 38 hours in the same month of the previous year.

The chart illustrates the development of electricity generation, consumption and wholesale prices during Storm “Hermine” from 26 to 28 December 2020.

The highest exchange price was recorded between 5pm and 6pm on Wednesday 9 December and was 114.00 euros per megawatt hour. In this hour, electricity consumption was high at 71.2 GWh and there was a low level of generation from renewables (10.5 GWh).

Data basis: smard.de

Commercial foreign trade

In total, Germany exported 3,418.7 GWh* more electricity than it imported in December, making it a net exporter, as was the case in the same month of the previous year, when it exported 4,545.6 GWh. Net exports were thus significantly lower than in December 2019.

Changes in imports and exports are the result of price fluctuations and are part of normal market activity. They reflect the interaction of supply and demand and the available trading capacity between the individual countries throughout the whole of Europe. At what point in time electricity is imported or exported depends not only on supply and demand in the respective country, but also on the electricity prices in the other countries and on cross-border transport options. Wholesale prices determined as a part of market coupling result from what are known as the relative generation costs, which vary over time. Among other things, wholesale prices reflect the fluctuating wind and sun conditions, the costs of fuels and also the cost of C02 certificates.

The chart gives an overview of Germany's commercial electricity trade.(Gross) exports are shown above the zero line while (gross) imports are shown below the zero line.

Since mid-November commercial foreign trade between Germany and Belgium has been taking place via the direct electricity link ALEGrO. In December, net exports to Belgium totalled 119.5 GWh. A direct connection between Germany and Norway called Nordlink is being completed; it has been in trial operation since December and is expected to go into normal operation in spring 2021.

Germany was a net importer this month only from Denmark (around 1,167.1 GWh) and Sweden (239.3 GWh). In December 2019, Germany’s exports to Denmark had exceeded its imports from that country. The reason for the shift from net exports to net imports in electricity trading with Denmark is the lower wholesale prices in the Denmark 1 zone. To compare: In December 2020, the average wholesale price in Denmark 1 was €34.51/MWh compared to €43.52/MWh in Germany. Overall, Danish prices were lower than German prices in 439 of the 744 hours of trading, whereas in December 2019 the average German price was below the average Danish price. This explains why Denmark imported more in December 2019 than in December 2020. As in the previous months, there has been no electricity trading between Germany and the Denmark 2 zone because of maintenance work on the Kontek interconnector.

Since mid-November commercial foreign trade between Germany and Belgium has been taking place via the direct electricity link ALEGrO. In December, net exports to Belgium totalled 119.5 GWh. A direct connection between Germany and Norway called Nordlink is being completed; it has been in trial operation since December and is expected to go into normal operation in spring 2021.

Germany was a net importer this month only from Denmark (around 1,167.1 GWh) and Sweden (239.3 GWh). In December 2019, Germany’s exports to Denmark had exceeded its imports from that country. The reason for the shift from net exports to net imports in electricity trading with Denmark is the lower wholesale prices in the Denmark 1 zone. To compare: In December 2020, the average wholesale price in Denmark 1 was €34.51/MWh compared to €43.52/MWh in Germany. Overall, Danish prices were lower than German prices in 439 of the 744 hours of trading, whereas in December 2019 the average German price was below the average Danish price. This explains why Denmark imported more in December 2019 than in December 2020. As in the previous months, there has been no electricity trading between Germany and the Denmark 2 zone because of maintenance work on the Kontek interconnector.

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*The net exports referred to in the text also include commercial foreign trade with Belgium, which is not reflected in the chart. The net exports value in the text may thus deviate from the net exports value shown in the chart.