By 2025, Germany had achieved a high share of renewable energy in its electricity consumption, yet the energy transition is revealing its costliest weakness in day-to-day operations. The record for green electricity reflects only an annual balance, whereas generation and demand do not constantly align. Consequently, there were 573 hours of negative wholesale prices, 9.379 terawatt-hours of curtailed renewable electricity, and grid intervention costs totaling around 3.071 billion euros. The consequences affect consumers, grid operators, and businesses alike, because annual figures suggest a smoothly functioning system but fail to provide information regarding demand, market value, and availability at the specific times when power is fed into the grid.
Record for Green Electricity – Annual Figures Mask the Problem
In terms of annual figures, renewable energy sources supplied more than 55 percent of Germany’s gross electricity consumption in 2025. While this figure is impressive, it represents merely a calculated annual aggregate; it does not indicate whether the electricity was actually needed at the time it was fed into the grid. This is precisely the fundamental flaw in many of the reports hailed by the media as a success for the energy transition.
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In the electricity grid, what matters is not an annual tally, but the real-time balance. Generation and consumption must match instantaneously. When wind and solar sources supply more power than the system can absorb, no additional benefit is created; instead, costs arise, even though there is technically an abundance of electricity.
Negative prices indicate electricity lacking sufficient market value
The German electricity market highlighted this imbalance in 2025. Wholesale prices dropped below zero for 573 hours—up from 457 hours in 2024. This record number of negative-price hours demonstrates that a large volume of electricity is not automatically valuable.
Negative prices occur when high supply meets weak demand, compounded by insufficient storage capacity, transmission bottlenecks, and a lack of flexible consumers. Consequently, electricity can lose its market value when generated at the wrong time; during such hours, generation becomes a cost burden.
Expensive periods of scarcity weigh on the overall balance
In 2025, Germany experienced not only surpluses but also costly periods of scarcity. Prices exceeded 300 euros per megawatt-hour during 40 hours. These price spikes occur when weather-dependent generation is insufficient, requiring imports or more expensive power plants to meet demand.
This is why annual averages can be misleading; cheap export hours and expensive import hours carry different market values. In 2025, Germany imported approximately 76.2 terawatt-hours of electricity and exported 54.3 terawatt-hours. However, the net import figure of 21.9 terawatt-hours does not reflect the actual costs involved.
Curtailment reveals the system’s limits
The problem is particularly evident in the practice of curtailment. In 2025, approximately 9.379 terawatt-hours of renewable electricity could not be fed into the grid. Although technically available, this power could not be put to productive use due to grid bottlenecks, a lack of absorption capacity, or a lack of simultaneous demand. Compensation payments for curtailed renewable energy plants amounted to around 433 million euros. Total grid congestion management costs came to approximately 3.071 billion euros. These figures demonstrate that renewable electricity can become expensive without adequate infrastructure. They also show that generation alone does not ensure security of supply.
Grid expansion remains a costly bottleneck
In June 2026, the Federal Network Agency launched the consultation process for the electricity grid development plan. Transmission system operators proposed 159 expansion measures; the agency currently considers 118 of these eligible for approval. This highlights the significant backlog in grid development that remains to be addressed.
The 2026 Energy Transition Progress Monitor also identifies grids, storage, and dispatchable capacity as key areas requiring attention. Consequently, simply increasing photovoltaic capacity is insufficient. Record levels of green electricity are only beneficial if the power is available at the right time and in the right place; otherwise, grid interventions, curtailment, and price volatility will continue to rise.
Annual tallies are no substitute for an honest cost assessment
Many reports highlight high shares of green electricity while ignoring the timing of its utilization. They rarely indicate whether the electricity was actually needed at the time it was generated. Furthermore, the costs associated with negative prices are not clearly itemized. As a result, publicly available annual data cannot be used to precisely calculate the costs actually incurred during hours of negative pricing. Such a calculation would require precise, time-resolved data on electricity volumes, prices, exports, imports, remuneration, storage, and curtailment. It is striking that this specific gap is rarely acknowledged—or even mentioned—in many presentations. Yet, this is precisely why green electricity is becoming more expensive rather than cheaper, contrary to years of political promises.
An honest assessment would need to integrate data on generation, demand, prices, imports, exports, and curtailment on a time-resolved basis. Only then does it become apparent when renewable electricity relieves the system—and when it triggers consequential costs. Without this data, the economic picture of Germany’s electricity transition remains incomplete.
Author: Blackout News (KOB)
Sources: Welt (17.06.26) – Windkraft Journal (16.06.26) – Bundesnetzagentur (12.06.26) – Deutscher Bundestag (Stand: 22.06.26) – Bundesnetzagentur (30.03.26) – Bundesnetzagentur (05.01.26)