Electricity is traded not only within Germany but also on the European internal electricity market. This helps to reduce costs across the whole system because electricity can then be generated primarily wherever it is cheapest to produce. For example, when there are strong winds in Denmark, Danish wind plants can generate electricity at low cost. In cases like this, it makes more economic sense for Germany to import electricity than to produce its own electricity at a higher cost in its gas or coal power plants. In other words, Germany mainly imports electricity whenever there is cheaper electricity available in other countries.

Likewise, Germany mostly exports electricity whenever it is producing a lot from renewable sources. This means that if the sun is shining and strong winds are blowing in Germany and if, as a result, Germany's prices are lower than the prices in other countries, electricity will be supplied to other countries under the market coupling system.

However, it is not easily possible to say exactly which amounts of electricity that Germany imports or exports come from which energy sources. The physical characteristics of electric current do not allow electricity from just certain energy sources to be imported or electricity produced by just one particular power plant to be exported. Once electricity has been fed into the grid, it is not possible to say where it will go or where it has come from.

In other words, electricity is not colour-coded.

Nevertheless, it is possible to draw valid conclusions using data and modelling. The Bundesnetzagentur has assessed various models and has chosen the following approach for its analyses:

The calculation model used on the SMARD website takes account of the current energy mix in the exporting country. This reflects the physical fact that it is not possible to say which type of energy has been used to produce electricity once the electricity has been fed into the grid. The mix of any electricity that is exported or imported is roughly taken to be the energy mix in the exporting country, so Germany's energy mix for electricity that Germany exports and the energy mix in the country the electricity comes from for electricity that Germany imports.

For example, on 24 March 2023 Germany produced a total of 63,395 MWh of electricity between midday and 1pm. Onshore wind generated 30,471 MWh or 48.07% of that total amount. In the same hour, Germany exported 1,057 MWh of electricity to France. It follows from the approach described that Germany exported around 510 MWh of electricity from onshore wind to France in that hour.

Likewise, following this approach, the energy mix of any electricity that is imported is the equivalent of the energy mix in the country that produced the electricity at the time the electricity was imported. For example, Germany imported 1,400 MWh of electricity from Norway between 5pm and 6pm on 14 August 2023. At that time, around 94.4% of the electricity that Norway produced came from hydropower, which means that Germany imported an estimated 1,322.1 MWh of hydroelectricity from Norway in that hour.

It is important to note that the calculations are based on data from commercial foreign trade and not the physical flow of electricity. This is mainly due to the characteristics of electric current and the grid. The laws of physics mean that electricity flows along the path of least resistance, which is not always the shortest path. Electricity that is produced in Austria may flow through the grids in Switzerland and France on its way to a consumer in Germany. The flow of electricity within Germany may also have an effect on cross-border flows. In addition, congestion management measures may also lead to differences between commercial foreign trade and actual electricity flows.

The latest figures calculated using the method described above are available in the Energy data compact section on the SMARD website.

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The calculated share of renewables in imports and exports in Europe has no effect on the achievement of the targets set in Germany's Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) and the EU's Renewable Energy Directive since electricity flows freely in Europe and is meant to flow freely. The EU's renewable energy targets are essentially expansion targets. The key factor as regards achieving the renewable energy targets in the EU's Directive and Germany's Act is the share of the electricity consumed in a Member State that is accounted for by electricity generated from renewable energy sources in that Member State. This share in Electricity generation is used to work out to what extent each Member State has contributed to achieving Europe's renewable energy targets, regardless of where the electricity flows after it has been generated.