Amprion Market Report 2025: Impact of weather-related fluctuation in renewable energy feed-in on electricity market and grid
Amprion’s latest market report analyses developments in the European electricity market in 2024 and highlights their impact on the German electricity grid. It focuses in particular on the challenges posed by the rapid expansion of renewable energies and the fluctuating feed-in owing to weather conditions.
Germany recorded an all-time high in renewable energy generation in 2024. With a 60 per cent share of net electricity generation, this milestone was primarily achieved through the tremendous expansion of photovoltaics. A total of 16.7 gigawatts (GW) of new photovoltaic capacity was added, bringing the installed capacity to currently over 100 GW. This contrasted with 0.7 GW of new offshore and 2.6 GW of new onshore wind capacity being connected to the grid. At the same time, around 6 GW of lignite and hard coal-fired power plants were decommissioned. “Our market report clearly shows that weather-related fluctuations are on the increase in the electricity market and grid. Rapid grid expansion and integrating renewable energies and battery storage in a way that is beneficial to network efficiency are key to smoothing out these fluctuations in the future and making the electricity system resilient and climate-neutral,” said Amprion CEO Dr Christoph Müller.
Germany is a net importer of electricity
For the second year in a row, Germany is a net importer of electricity, with imports of around 67 TWh, compared with exports of around 38 TWh. This represents a reversal of the situation in 2022, when Germany was still a net exporter. This change highlights the successful integration of the European electricity market and the economic benefits of extensive electricity trading. Amprion is continuing to work flat out on expanding the transmission grid and optimising cross-border trading capacities.
Dark wind lulls and excess renewable energy generation define 2024
2024 was marked by unusual weather conditions. There were long periods with hardly any wind or sunlight, including the longest dark wind lull since 1982, which lasted almost 11 days. On the other hand, there were more frequent periods of excess renewable energy generation, with very high wind and solar feed-in, which posed challenges for the grid. These extreme weather conditions led to high volatility on the electricity markets, with prices ranging from –135.5 €/MWh to +936 €/MWh. Whereas average prices remained moderate in 2024, price peaks highlight the urgent need for action: there is often a surplus of renewable energies in summer, whereas there can be energy shortages in winter.
The amendment to the Energy Industry Act (EnWG), which was adopted shortly before the end of the last legislative period, contains important measures to address this oversupply in future. Further fine-tuning is needed here. “Climate-friendly technologies that are particularly beneficial to network efficiency must be enshrined in law. Photovoltaic systems in particular must respond to price signals in future – and, as grid operators, we must be able to control them within the framework of legal requirements. Battery storage will also play an increasingly important role in supporting the system through flexible deployment options in future,” said Amprion CTO Dr Hendrik Neumann. Amprion is calling for clear rules that make storage economically attractive, while at the same time meeting the requirements of the electricity system.
The new federal government now has an opportunity to put the necessary measures in place to mitigate dark wind lulls as effectively as possible in future. Amprion CEO Müller stressed: “To ensure reliability of supply during periods of low wind and solar energy, we need additional power plants and a comprehensive reserve power plant strategy to safeguard this transition phase.”
The complete market report can be found here.
