German solar power production downward in first half of 2023 due to weather conditions

Electricity feed-in from photovoltaics in Germany was 5.9 percent lower in the first half of this year than in the same period last year. This was reported by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) in its preliminary energy statistics for the first half of 2023 published on Wednesday (September 6). The decline is explained primarily by the fact that solar power production in the first quarter of 2022 was exceptionally high due to weather conditions. Because less electricity was consumed in the first half of 2023 than in the previous year, PV nevertheless increased its percentage share of the electricity mix from 11.2 to 11.9 percent. The share of wind power rose from 25.6 percent in the first half of 2022 to 28.6 percent, exceeding the share of coal-fired power, which fell significantly to 27.1 percent (first half of 2022: 31.3 percent).
Overall, electricity generation amounted to 233.9 terawatt hours (TWh), a decrease of 11.4 percent. Consumption, or the total amount of electricity available in the grid, also fell, but at a much slower rate of 6.9 percent than production. The difference is due to a significant increase in imports (plus 30.8 percent) and a decrease in exports (minus 18.1 percent). Nevertheless, German electricity exports (32.6 TWh) still exceeded electricity imports (30.6 TWh) in the first half of 2023.
According to Destatis, the reasons for the decline in the total amount of electricity available were savings efforts due to high energy prices and an economic slowdown, especially in energy-intensive industries. The decline in domestic electricity generation was also related to the shutdown of the last three German nuclear power plants on April 15.
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