The first year the EU produced more from renewables than fossil fuels
The steps that helped unlock solar and wind power.
Last year, for the first time, the EU produced more electricity from solar and wind power than from fossil gas. Here’s a breakdown from an excellent Ember Climate article.
Last year was an eventful one for EU electricity, with Ukraine invasion affecting gas supply, nuclear outages and a severe drought affecting hydropower. These factors led to a shortfall in electricity production.
Coal use increased to meet these demands, but only by 1.5%. Instead, it was wind and solar that prevented the need to return to coal.
In 2022, wind and solar generated 22% of EU power, above coal and gas (16% and 20%, respectively). Solar generation alone rose by 24% in 2022.
And this increase in renewables not only filled the demand shortfall, it saved billions. With the solar generation increase, the EU avoided approximately €49 billion gas imports.
Some standouts are that Netherlands produced the most of its power from solar and Greece ran solely on renewables for five hours in October. Greece is expected to reach its 2030 solar capacity target seven years early.
Supportive policy helped Netherlands rapidly expand rooftop solar. In an inspiring move, Belgium provided free solar panels to households who couldn’t afford them.
But there were grassroots actions too. European households showed a dramatic adoption of rooftop solar - accounting for a 313% rise in production growth compared to 2021. Due to actions like this, rooftop solar now accounts for 66% of the EU’s installed solar production.
The increase in solar and wind contributed to the EU’s resilience in a year of shocks. It supplied power, saved billions in import costs and minimised the need to restart coal factories. Gas use is expected to make a record fall this year.
This shows that with the right policies and civil action, we can keep fossil fuels in the ground, and these changes can happen surprisingly quickly. Stories like these need to be shared to inspire wider change.
Lots more here in this fascinating report from Dave Jones at Ember Climate.