Germany exported more electricity than it imported for the seventh consecutive year in 2012, despite an accelerated exit from nuclear power generation that included the immediate and permanent shut-down of nearly half of the country's atomic reactors in 2011, the national statistics office said Tuesday.

In a written statement the Federal Statistics Office, Destatis, said that Germany exported around 22.8 terrawatt-hours of electricity more than it imported in 2012.

The main destinations for German-produced electricity were the Netherlands , Switzerland and Austria , said the statistics office, citing data supplied by Germany 's four power transmission grid operators.

The main sources of power imports into Germany were France , Denmark and the Czech Republic , it added.

The statistics office didn't provide any reasons for the continued power exports, despite the fact that Germany shut down eight of 17 nuclear reactors in the wake of the Fukushima disaster in Japan in March 2011.

The rapid and unabated expansion of solar and wind power installations are widely seen as the main reason for continued German electricity exports as well as the sharp erosion of wholesale power prices under which many of Europe's utilities are presently suffering.

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