Germany’s power grid currently faces significant challenges in absorbing the rapid increase of renewable energy, often resulting in wasted electricity. To ensure the system remains stable, the country must shift its focus from merely building more wind and solar farms to upgrading its physical infrastructure and digital management tools, according to the authors of the newly released report.
The report notes that “across Europe, GW-hours of renewable electricity are curtailed each year because the grid simply cannot absorb them.” It further warns that “bottlenecks between the wind-rich north and industrial south threaten project economics, making investment in high-voltage corridors and smart grids essential.”
In simple terms, Germany is producing more green energy than its current power lines can carry or its systems can manage. Because wind and solar power depend on the weather, they create sudden surges of electricity that the aging grid was not designed to handle, leading to situations where clean energy has to be “curtailed”—essentially turned off and wasted—to prevent a system breakdown. To fix this, the country needs to build more heavy-duty power lines to move electricity from where it is made to where it is needed, while using smart technology and batteries to balance the flow.
The report ‘Shaping 2026: Energy · Infrastructure · Transport’ was published by the international law firm Watson Farley & Williams in Germany in January 2026. Prepared by a senior team led by Dr. Christian Finnern, Dr. Malte Jordan, and Dr. Christian Bauer, the study provides a comprehensive roadmap for navigating the country’s shifting regulatory and investment landscape.
