The German energy regulator published preliminary data showing significant growth in renewable energy generation capacity in 2025. Installed capacity grew by nearly 21 gigawatts (GW), bringing the total installed capacity to around 210 GW. This represents an annual growth rate of 11%. Solar and wind energy were the main contributors to this increase.
“Last year solar power once again led the way in terms of new capacity. Total capacity of 117 GW at the end of the year shows good progress has been made towards achieving the expansion targets,” said Klaus Müller, President of the Bundesnetzagentur. “
Solar capacity
The growth rate of solar installations in Germany slowed slightly in 2025 compared to the previous year. An additional 16.4 gigawatts (GW) of new capacity were added to the national solar park. Almost half of the increase came from solar systems installed on buildings, with the remainder coming from ground-mounted photovoltaic power plants.
By comparison, in 2024, new solar installations on buildings were twice as many as ground-mounted ones. At the end of 2025, the total installed solar capacity in Germany reached 117 GW. However, in order to meet the target of expanding solar energy to 215 GW by 2030, an average of around 19.6 GW of new solar capacity will need to be integrated annually over the coming years.
Onshore wind
The growth in capacity from onshore wind power plants in 2025 reached 4.6 gigawatts (GW), significantly exceeding the previous year’s level of 2.6 GW. As before, most of the new wind turbines were being commissioned in North Rhine-Westphalia, where a total capacity of 1.3 GW was added.
At the same time, nearly 0.6 GW of wind capacity was registered as permanently decommissioned. These facilities are typically replaced by retrofitting with installations with higher unit capacity. At the end of 2025, installed onshore wind capacity reached 68.1 GW, with a target of 115 GW by 2030. To achieve this, Germany needs to add an average of 9.4 GW of new onshore wind capacity per year.
Offshore wind
In November and December 2025, the most powerful offshore wind turbines to date went into operation. The turbines, located in the EnBW He Dreiht wind farm in the North Sea, have a single capacity of 15 megawatts (MW). Additional identical installations are expected to be connected to the wind farm in the near future.
In 2025, a total of 0.3 gigawatts (GW) of new offshore capacity ccame online. Growth in offshore wind energy during the year remained lower than in the previous year. At the end of 2025, installed offshore wind capacity in the North Sea and Baltic Sea reached 9.5 GW.
Biomass
In 2025, the installed capacity of biomass power plants remained stable at around 9.2 gigawatts (GW). The closures reported during the year were fully offset by the commissioning of new capacity. As a result, biomass power plants add around 55 megawatts (MW) of new capacity in 2025.
For more information: Bundesnetzagentur
