CAPTION: Power pylons of a power line are located in the Frankfurt district Riedberg. (picture alliance/Silas Stein/dpa/archive)
Germany exported slightly less electricity to its neighbours in 2018 compared to the year before, but the cross-border trade of power remained strong, statistics show.
As of last week, 70,000 gigawatt-hours of power had flowed out of Germany, according to the Federal Network Agency.
The total for all of 2017 was 77,000 gigawatt-hours.
Meanwhile, electricity imports to Germany this year have risen, resulting in a decline of about 14 per cent in the export surplus to 51,000 gigawatt hours.
European national electricity markets buy and sell power from neighbours every day in order to even out the difference between consumption and generation. The interconnected grids also reduce the likelihood of power outages.
The main consumers of German electricity in 2018 were Austria, the Netherlands and France. Germany imported more electricity from Poland, Sweden and Denmark than it exported.
Despite the export decline this year, producers have earned more from their trade abroad, owing to the increase in wholesale electricity prices. Export revenue has so far totalled 2.1 billion euros (2.4 billion dollars), around 200 million euros more than last year.
According to the Federal Environment Agency, Germany has been generating export surpluses in cross-border electricity trading since 2003. This is in part because consumption has shown a steady decline as compared to the amount of energy generated.
The Federal Association of the Energy and Water Industry expects export surpluses to end by 2023 as more and more gas- and coal-fired power stations are shut down due to age or cost.
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