Eurostat: Record-breaking increase in renewable electricity in EU in 2023
In 2023, renewable energy sources accounted for 45.3 per cent of gross electricity consumption in the EU, a significant 4.1 percentage points (pp) increase from 2022, the bloc’s statistics agency Eurostat said on February 21.
This marks the largest annual increase in the share of renewable energy in gross electricity consumption since the time series began in 2004. In addition, the annual increases in 2022 (3.5 pp) and 2020 (3.3 pp) were the second and third largest annual increases, respectively, Eurostat said.
Wind (38.5 per cent of the total) and hydro power (28.2 per cent) accounted for more than two-thirds of the total electricity generated from renewable sources.
Solar power followed, contributing 20.5 per cent, while solid biofuels and other renewable sources accounted for 6.2 per cent and 6.6 per cent, respectively.
The growth in renewable electricity over the past decade was largely achieved by the expansion of wind and solar power, Eurostat said. Solar power is the fastest-growing source, rising from just 7.4 terawatt hours (TWh) in 2008 (representing only 1 per cent of the total) to 252.1 TWh in 2023.
Data show that more than 75 per cent of electricity consumed in 2023 was generated from renewable sources in Austria (87.8 per cent, mostly hydro), Sweden (87.5 per cent, mostly hydro and wind) and Denmark (79.4 per cent, mostly wind).
Shares above 50 per cent were also registered in Portugal (63.0 per cent), Croatia (58.8 per cent), Spain (56.9 per cent), Latvia (54.3 per cent) and Finland (52.4 per cent).
At the other end of the scale, the share of electricity from renewable sources was less than 20 per cent in Malta (10.7 per cent), Czechia (16.4 per cent), Luxembourg (18.0 per cent) and Hungary (19.5 per cent).
For Bulgaria, the figure was 29.4 per cent.
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