14th Energy Transition Monitoring

Client

vbw – Vereinigung der Bayerischen Wirtschaft e. V.

Year

2026


Energy prices remain high, and the expansion of renewable energies is still off track: this is shown by our 14th Energy Transition Monitoring report, which we compiled on behalf of vbw – Vereinigung der Bayerischen Wirtschaft (Bavarian Industry Association).

As every year, we examined four areas of the energy transition in this monitoring report, which we analysed for both Bavaria and Germany as a whole.

What is the current status of the energy transition?

These are the results for 2024 and 2025:

1. Security of supply

  • Despite high loads on the energy system, security of supply remained guaranteed.
  • Germany thus continues to be one of the countries with the best quality of electricity supply.
  • Redispatch measures prevented bottlenecks – both in conventional and renewable power plants.
  • The costs for system security measures amounted to around three billion euros in 2024 – the third highest figure ever recorded.
  • For the winters of 2024/25 and 2025/26, it remained necessary to maintain national and foreign reserve capacities.
  • Grid expansion progressed only slowly.

2. Affordability

  • Electricity and gas prices for end consumers remained high in 2024/25, as price reductions from the wholesale market were passed on with a time lag.
  • Households saw noticeable improvements in electricity prices in 2025 (relative to the consumer price index).
  • For the industry, electricity prices remain at the lower end of the European scale.
  • Gas prices for households and businesses remained well above pre-2021 levels.

3. Energy efficiency & renewables

  • Energy consumption fell significantly in 2024 – to its lowest level since German reunification. This was due to the growth of renewables, weather effects and the weak economy, particularly in energy-intensive industries.
  • In 2025, consumption stagnated due to weather conditions.
  • A decline in energy-intensive production led to falling energy demand.
  • Renewable electricity production remained well below target: although the expansion targets for photovoltaics were achieved, the wind power targets were missed.

4. Environmental compatibility

  • Greenhouse gas emissions in Germany continued to fall in 2024 and were well below the target path; an extrapolation for 2025 confirms this picture.
  • The energy industry recorded significant emissions reductions in 2024.
  • Industry, households and the commerce, trade and services sector also reduced their emissions.
  • The transport sector stagnated at the previous year’s level.

With 23 supplementary individual indicators on climate protection, the project team also examined developments in various sectors, such as the renovation rate in the building sector and the expansion of the charging infrastructure for e-mobility. Compared with the results of the 13th monitoring of the energy transition, only minor progress has been made in many of these indicators.

Links and downloads

To the study (PDF, in German)

Further information vbw website (in German)

To the previous monitoring reports

Project team: Dr Almut Kirchner, Sven Kreidelmeyer

Last update: 02.03.2026

Do you have questions?

Your contact at Prognos

Sven Kreidelmeyer

Senior Project Manager

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Dr Almut Kirchner

Partner, Director

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