On the website www.energy-charts.de, data on electricity exports and imports for Germany are prepared and displayed graphically by scientists of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE. The graphs show that Germany generates additional revenues in the billions each year through electricity exports. Revenues totaled about 1.7 billion euros in 2014, for example. Similarly, revenues between 1.5 and 2 billion euros are expected for 2015. The graphical analysis also shows that, on average, market prices were higher for electricity exported from Germany than for electricity imported to Germany. The argument that Germany is selling its surplus electricity to foreign countries at dumping prices is not able to be confirmed. “Over the past years, Germany was able to secure higher prices for its electricity exports than it paid for electricity imports,” summarizes Prof. Bruno Burger. In 2015, the Fraunhofer scientists again anticipate a record export surplus of up to 40 TWh electricity for Germany.
The trend of large electricity exports in Germany continues in spite of the government’s planned phase-out of nuclear power. In Germany, the annual electricity production from nuclear has decreased by 41 TWh between 2010 and 2014. At the same time, renewable energy production from solar, wind and biomass have increased by about 118 TWh. Prof. Burger sees absolutely no reason to slow down the pace of renewable energy installations: “Major efforts in renewable energy expansion are still drastically needed in order to replace the remaining nuclear power plants and to reduce the electricity production from coal-fired plants, which are especially damaging to the climate.” Particularly the amount of new solar energy installations has fallen sharply since the beginning of this year. It is expected that new solar electric capacity will reach only about half the amount defined in the corridor laid down by the German federal government. “On the other hand, offshore wind energy shows a positive increase for 2015. After many years characterized by delays, electricity production at sea is now on the move,” says Bruno Burger.
