BONN (dpa-AFX) - Last year, electricity consumption in Germany fell noticeably. In contrast, electricity production increased, as the Federal Network Agency announced on Wednesday. In total, a good 482 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity were consumed in the Federal Republic in 2022, the regulatory authority reported, four percent less than in the previous year. At the same time, however, electricity production had risen by 0.4 percent to just under 507 TWh. This is because Germany exported significantly more electricity than in the previous year. One terawatt hour is equivalent to one billion kilowatt hours.

At 48.3 percent, the share of electricity generated from renewable energies in consumption in 2022 was significantly higher than the previous year's level of 42.7 percent. Wind power plants made the largest contribution, accounting for 25.9 percent of the electricity generated. Photovoltaics covered 11.4 percent and biomass 8.2 percent. Hydropower and other renewables accounted for the remaining 2.8 percent. Overall, generation from renewables in 2022 was 233.9 TWh, about 8.5 percent higher than the previous year.

Generation from conventional energy sources totaled 273 TWh last year, down 5.7 percent from the previous year. The main reason for this was the drop in electricity generation from nuclear energy by almost 50 percent following the shutdown of the Grundremmingen C, Brokdorf and Grohnde nuclear power plants at the end of 2021. By contrast, electricity generation from natural gas increased by 1.7 percent, generation from lignite by 5.4 percent and generation from hard coal by 21.4 percent./rea/DP/mis