Germany needs less energy

04.04.2024


Source: Energy & Management Powernews

Energy consumption in Germany continues to fall. The Working Group on Energy Balances has even identified a historic low.

Last year, energy consumption in Germany reached 10,735 petajoules (PJ) or 366.3 million tons of coal equivalent (HCU). This corresponds to a decrease of 8.1 percent compared to the previous year. Energy consumption thus fell to the lowest level ever recorded, writes the AG Energiebilanzen in its recently published report for 2023.

The high price level and weak economic development played a significant role in the downward trend. According to AG Energiebilanzen, the high price level led to investments in energy efficiency and substitutions of energy sources, but was also responsible for cutbacks in energy-intensive production and thus for the decline in consumption.

Productivity has improved significantly

The overall economic energy productivity has improved by 8.4%. This figure is significantly higher than the long-term average of 2.5 percent per year for the period 1990 to 2022. Based on preliminary data, the Working Group on Energy Balances assumes that energy-related CO2 emissions fell by 11.8% in the past year. This would correspond to a decrease of around 74 million tons.

In the area of electricity generation, CO 2 emissions fell by around 23 percent or 45 million tons. In addition to lower electricity generation, this development is due to the greater contribution of renewables and a decline in coal-fired power generation.

In the transport sector, emissions were reduced by 1.3% or 2.2 million tons. In the manufacturing sector, there was a reduction of 7.2 percent or around 6 million tons. CO 2 emissions from private households fell by 6.6 million tons, primarily due to the temperature effect and consumers' efforts to save energy, which corresponds to a reduction of 8.5% compared to the previous year.

In 2023, the consumption of mineral oil fell by 6.8% overall compared to the previous year to 3,822 PJ (130.4 million tons of coal equivalent). Sales of light heating oil fell by 7.3%. Deliveries of crude petrol to the chemical industry fell by 18.6%.

Natural gas consumption fell by 2.4% to 2,655 PJ (90.6 million tonsce) in 2023. The decline in demand affected industry as well as private households and the trade, commerce and services sector. Slightly less natural gas was used to generate electricity than in the previous year. The generation of district heating from natural gas also decreased.

The consumption of hard coal fell by 18.5% to 931 PJ (31.8 million tons of coal equivalent) in the reporting period. Power plants reduced their fuel consumption by almost 34%.

In 2023, the primary energy consumption of lignite was 895 PJ (30.5 million TCE), a good 23% below the previous year's level. Deliveries of lignite to power plants for general supply fell by around 23%. Electricity generation from lignite remained around 25 percent below the previous year's result.

Electricity generation from nuclear energy fell sharply again in 2023, which is due to the shutdown of the last three nuclear power plants and their final decommissioning on April 15, 2023. Since this date, nuclear energy has no longer contributed to the energy supply in Germany.

Electricity generation from renewable energies grew by 7% to 272.4 billion kWh. The main reason for this was the higher electricity production from onshore wind turbines, which increased by 18.6 percent. In the case of solar energy, there was only a slight increase in electricity production despite a strong increase in the number of PV systems. Generation from hydropower increased by 11%. Biomass remained 2 percent below the previous year's figure.

In 2023, 11.8 billion kWh more electricity was imported from abroad than exported. This made Germany a net importer of electricity again for the first time since 2002. Exports fell by just under 24% in 2023 compared to the previous year, while imports rose by more than 40%.

Further shifts towards renewables

There were further shifts in the energy mix for 2023. Mineral oil remained the most important energy source with a share of 35.6 percent (previous year: 35.1 percent), followed by natural gas with 24.7 percent (previous year: 23.3 percent). Hard coal accounted for 8.7% (previous year: 9.8%). Lignite reduced its share to 8.3% (previous year: 10.0%). Renewable energies increased their share of total energy consumption to 19.6% (previous year: 17.5%).

Domestic energy production fell by 6.7% to 3,435 PJ (117.3 million tons of coal equivalent) in 2023. The most important domestic energy source is now renewables with a share of 61.4% (previous year: 55.5%). Lignite follows with 26.7 percent (previous year 32.4 percent).

The report on the development of primary energy consumption in 2023 is now available to download from the AG Energiebilanzen website.

Author: Günter Drewnitzky