- Wind and solar generated a fifth (22.28%) of the EU’s electricity in 2022, surpassing gas (19.91%) for the first time.
- The country with the highest proportion of its electricity generated from the sun in 2022 was the Netherlands (14%), which snatched its traditional leadership from Spain (12%).
Wind and solar generated a fifth (22.28%) of the EU’s electricity in 2022, surpassing gas (19.91%) for the first time in a sector dominated by nuclear and hydroelectric (32.04 %), according to data released this week by the Ember energy think tank. “Europe has avoided the worst of the energy crisis,” summarized the head of Ember’s Data Outlook.
Although the energy crisis revitalized generation with coal, the increase in this fossil fuel to produce electricity was only 1.5 points compared to the previous year, up to 15.99% of the electricity in the community block and with a tendency to be reduced by 6% in the last four months of 2022. The 26 coal-fired power plants on standby have operated at an average of 18% of their capacity. Only a third of the additional 22 million tonnes of coal imported into the EU last year was used.
Solar generation advanced by 24% in 2022 and wind power by 33% in the EU, leading to savings of “10,000 million euros” in gas, according to Ember. The country with the highest proportion of its electricity generated from the sun in 2022 was the Netherlands (14%), which snatched its traditional leadership from Spain (12%). Spain was in the leading block in newly installed power (21%), but the Netherlands doubled that rate (51%). In the EU, generation from gas increased by 0.8% and from fossil fuels in general by 3%. The head of the WindEurope wind energy association, Giles Dickson, welcomed the data but pointed out that “much more is needed to meet” the renewable energy targets and called for an industrial policy based on clean energy and to “correctly” redesign the electricity market.