Europe / Caspian / CIS
Country profile: Germany
Location: | Central Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, between the Netherlands and Poland, south of Denmark |
Climate: | temperate and marine; cool, cloudy, wet winters and summers; occasional warm mountain (foehn) wind |
Terrain: | lowlands in north, uplands in center, Bavarian Alps in south |
Size: | 357021 sq. km total (Land area: 349223 sq. km Water area: 7798 sq.km) |
Population: | 82,369,548 (July 2008 est.) |
Languages: | German |
Government: | federal republic |
Capital city: | Berlin |
Legal system: | civil law system with indigenous concepts; judicial review of legislative acts in the Federal Constitutional Court; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction |
Currency: | euro (EUR) |
Licensing: |
Country profile
Germany has one of the largest economies in the world, with a 2005 nominal gross domestic product (GDP) of $2.8 trillion. In recent years, economic growth has resumed, after GDP contracted by 0.2 percent in 2003. However, high unemployment and sluggish domestic demand continue to dampen economic growth. Owning to its large economy, Germany is one of the world’s largest energy consumers. In 2004, the country consumed 14.7 quadrillion British Thermal Units (Btu) of total energy, the fifth-largest amount in the world.
Besides coal, Germany does not possess any sizable hydrocarbon reserves, so the country must rely upon imports to meet the majority of its energy needs. The lack of domestic hydrocarbon resources has led Germany to become a world leader in the development of renewable energy technologies, with the country becoming the world’s largest producer of biodiesel and generator of electricity from wind.
As Europe's largest economy and second most populous nation, Germany is a key member of the continent's economic, political, and defense organizations. European power struggles immersed Germany in two devastating World Wars in the first half of the 20th century and left the country occupied by the victorious Allied powers of the US, UK, France, and the Soviet Union in 1945. With the advent of the Cold War, two German states were formed in 1949: the western Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and the eastern German Democratic Republic (GDR).
The democratic FRG embedded itself in key Western economic and security organizations, the EC, which became the EU, and NATO, while the Communist GDR was on the front line of the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact. The decline of the USSR and the end of the Cold War allowed for German unification in 1990. Since then, Germany has expended considerable funds to bring Eastern productivity and wages up to Western standards. In January 1999, Germany and 10 other EU countries introduced a common European exchange currency, the euro.
Energy production and consumption
Oil | Gas | |
Production: | 141,700 bbl/day (2005) | 19 billion cu m (2005 est.) |
Consumption: | 2 million bbl/day (2005 est.) | 96 billion cu m (2005 est.) |
Exports: | 518,700 bbl/day (2004) | 9 billion cu m (2005 est.) |
Imports: | 2 million bbl/day (2004) | 86 billion cu m (2005 est.) |
Reserves: | 367 million bbl (1 January 2006 est.) | 246 billion cu m (1 January 2006 est.) |
Major fields: |
Germany - recent news
03 Sep 25 |
Germany: Nordex Group to build a wind farm of nearly 34 MW in Baden-Württemberg for ABO Energy The Nordex Group has received an order from ABO Energy to supply and install seven N133/4.8 wind turbines. The turbines are destined for the 33.6 MW Öhringen-Karlsfurtebene wind farm in northeastern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The order also includes a Premium Service contract for maintenance of the turbines over 20 years. |
02 Sep 25 |
Germany: Vestas announces 94 MW order in Germany Vestas has secured a 94 MW order in Germany as part of its Q3 order intake. Delivery planned to begin in Q2 2027, with commissioning scheduled for Q4 2027. |
29 Aug 25 |
Germany: Odfjell Technology partners with Vercana on major geothermal energy project in Germany Odfjell Technology, an integrated supplier of well services technology and engineering solutions, has signed a two-year contract with Vercana, Vulcan Group’s drilling subsidiary. Odfjell Technology will provide tubular running services (TRS) to Vulcan Group’s Phase One Lionheart Project in Germany which aims to produce lithium sustainably by combining harnessed geothermal energy with critical mineral extraction. |
28 Aug 25 |
Germany: Nordex Group to install 45-MW Wind Farm for Trianel in Germany The Nordex Group has received an order for supplying and installing eight N149/5.X wind turbines in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. The customer is Trianel Erneuerbare Energien GmbH & Co. KG, an association of 36 municipal utilities and the Stadtwerke cooperation Trianel. |
27 Aug 25 |
Germany: RWE commissions new photovoltaic plant at Hambach opencast mine RWE has commissioned a new photovoltaic plant (13.9 MW peak /12 MW ac) close to the municipality of Niederzier in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Spanning around 12 hectares on the western edge of the Hambach opencast mine, over 22,000 solar panels can now generate enough green electricity to supply around 4,500 households per year. |
Germany - more news
Other countries in this region
- Afghanistan,
- Albania,
- Armenia,
- Austria,
- Azerbaijan,
- Belarus,
- Belgium,
- Bosnia and Herzegovina,
- Bulgaria,
- Croatia,
- Cyprus,
- Czech Republic,
- Denmark,
- Estonia,
- Faroe Islands,
- Finland,
- France,
- Georgia,
- Greece,
- Greenland,
- Hungary,
- Iceland,
- Ireland,
- Italy,
- Kazakhstan,
- Kyrgyzstan,
- Latvia,
- Lithuania,
- Luxembourg,
- Malta,
- Moldova,
- Montenegro,
- Netherlands,
- Norway,
- Poland,
- Portugal,
- Romania,
- Russia,
- Serbia,
- Slovakia,
- Slovenia,
- Spain,
- Sweden,
- Switzerland,
- Tajikistan,
- Tatarstan,
- Turkey,
- Turkmenistan,
- Ukraine,
- United Kingdom,
- Uzbekistan