Growth in renewable energy in the first half of 2024
Year of issue 2024
Date of issue 2024.07.19
The Bundesnetzagentur has released its preliminary figures on growth in renewable capacity in the first half of 2024. From January to June capacity totalling 9.3 GW was put into operation at renewable energy installations. Taking into account the closure of older installations totalling 0.4 GW in the same period, the total capacity increased by 5.3% compared with the end of 2023. Solar and wind remained the main components of the increase.
"We are seeing continuous growth, especially in the solar installations,"
said Klaus Müller, President of the Bundesnetzagentur. "Nearly 10% more solar power has been added to the total capacity since the end of 2023. Two thirds of the growth came in the form of building installations, which include balcony solar panels. At the end of June we exceeded 90 gigawatts of installed capacity for the first time. An enormous development and challenge for the entire transformation process in the electricity sector."
There was also positive development with regard to permits for new onshore wind turbines, with permits for nearly 5.6 GW of capacity being issued in the first half of 2024 alone. This represents an increase of around 70% compared with the same period of the preceding year. This means that the total capacity for which permits were issued in 2023 (7.7 GW) will likely be topped again this year.
Growth in wind energy in the first half of 2024 brought a boost to offshore wind power installations. New offshore wind capacity totalling 377 MW went into operation in the Baltic and North Seas. Onshore wind has yet to see such a boost. The current growth rate for 2024 (up 1.5% compared with the end of 2023) is relatively small and is in part the result of a strikingly large number of permanent closures of older installations in the second quarter of 2024. For the 130 newly commissioned installations with a total capacity of 600 MW there were 173 installation closures with a total capacity of 230 MW. New installations thus had an average of three to four times more capacity than those that were taken out of operation. Overall onshore wind capacity is currently just under 62 GW.
The Bundesnetzagentur is also monitoring balcony solar panel trends. Between January and June 2024, around 220,000 units with a gross capacity of 200 MW were registered, on average around 900 watts of gross capacity per unit. In the previous year the average was around 800 watts of gross capacity. The trend towards more and more powerful modules continues in this segment. Thanks to the simplified registration in the core energy market data register that went into effect in April of this year, the Bundesnetzagentur assumes data will be significantly better than in the previous year.
Core energy market data register
The Bundesnetzagentur gathers data based on registrations in the core energy market data register and publishes a monthly analysis of growth figures (available in German) at www.bundesnetzagentur.de/ee-statistik.
The core energy market data register is a comprehensive official register of all electricity generating installations in Germany. All generating installations and battery storage systems connected to the grid must be registered. This covers all installations, with a few exceptions. The Bundesnetzagentur is responsible for operating the register.