The recently opened 650-megawatt Witznitz solar energy park, built on a former mining site, in Saxony, Witznitz, Germany on July 3, 2024. In the background is the Lippendorf coal-fired power plant. Hendrik Schmidt / picture alliance via Getty Images Renewables are now making up a majority of the net public electricity generation in Germany, according to a new report by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (Fraunhofer ISE). As Fraunhofer ISE reported, renewable energy sources accounted for 62.7% of the net public electricity generated in Germany in 2024. Wind energy made up the most of this share, comprising 33% of net public electricity generation at 136.4 terawatt hours (TWh). While onshore wind energy declined slightly, offshore wind power increased to 25.7 TWh compared to 2023’s 23.5 TWh. Meanwhile, solar power in Germany reached a new record of 72.2 TWh in 2024 and exceeded the country’s photovoltaic target to install 13 gigawatts (GW) of solar for 2024, with 13.3 GW installed by November 2024 and an estimated 15.9 GW installed by the end of the year. Total solar power production increased by 18% compared to 2023, and solar energy made up 14% of the total net public electricity generation, according to Fraunhofer ISE. Solar expansion and production increased rapidly last year, despite weather conditions that were often not ideal for solar power generation, PV Magazine reported. While Germany experienced its hottest year on record , as Yahoo! reported, the country experienced heavy rainfall and thunderstorms in July, which was also the month with the most solar energy production of 2024. Heavy rain and storms continued into the fall. In addition to rising renewables, reliance on hard coal and lignite for public electricity generation declined by 27.6% and 8.4%, respectively. Lignite, or brown coal, is one of the most polluting […]