Germany's total electricity generation from conventional and renewable energy sources in February and March amounted to 91.7 TWh, corresponding to a year-on-year decrease of 3.4 %. The highest hourly output of 83.2 GWh was produced on Wednesday, 13 March. The lowest output was 41.3 GWh and occurred on Sunday, 24 March.

Renewable energy generation was up 29.2 % in the two months, from 32.4 TWh to 41.9 TWh. This is largely due to the significant rise in generation by wind turbines (up 45.1 % year-on-year from 18.6 TWh to 27 TWh). One particular reason for this increase was the weather in the first half of March. This period saw quite a number of storms across Germany, leading to almost continuously strong winds and also some gales.

Solar power played a less important role than wind generation because there is little sunshine in the winter months. However, photovoltaic installations also produced more electricity in February and March than in the same months of the previous year. Their output was up 18.4 % year-on-year to 2.2 TWh in February (2018: 1.8 TWh) and 3.2 TWh in March (2018: 2.7 TWh).

The graph illustrates electricity generation and consumption in February and March. It shows total electricity generation and consumption on each day in the period. The day with the highest amount of electricity generated was 13 March, which was also the day with the top hourly output (not illustrated).

Highest and lowest outputs of renewable electricity generation

On Wednesday, 13 March, storm "Franz" led to very windy conditions and consequently a high output from wind turbines. Renewable generation peaked at 59.3 GWh in an hour, 9.5 % more than the peak in the same period last year and more than twice the average hourly output from renewable energy sources in February and March (29.6 GWh).

The lowest hourly output of renewable generation occurred on Wednesday, 27 February and was 8.8 GWh.

The graph shows the day when renewables produced their highest output (Wednesday, 13 March). Conventional power plants adapted to the changes in demand and scaled back generation. The red line shows consumption.

Highest and lowest outputs of conventional electricity generation

Conventional power plants have, as far as technically feasible and economically reasonable, adapted flexibly to the generation from renewables. Conventional generation recorded its lowest hourly output of 16 GWh on Sunday, 17 March. Conventional plants produced their highest hourly output of 58.8 GWh on Tuesday, 5 February.

Altogether, non-renewable electricity generation decreased by 20.2 % from 62.5 TWh to 49.8 TWh in the two-month period.