This was a record year for the increase in electricity from renewable sources in the EU, as renewable energy sources accounted for almost half (45.3%) of gross electricity consumption in the single community. There was a significant increase of 4.1 percentage points (p.p.) compared to 2022, which meant the largest annual increase in the share of renewable energy in gross electricity consumption since 2004.

Wind power, which accounted for more than a third (38.5%) of the total, and hydropower (28.2%) accounted for more than two-thirds of the total electricity generated from renewable sources. Solar energy followed closely behind, contributing 20.5%, while solid biofuels and other renewable sources accounted for 6.2% and 6.6% respectively, according to Eurostat.

“The growth in renewable electricity over the past decade has largely been achieved by the expansion of wind and solar power. Solar energy is the fastest growing source, rising from just 7.4 Terawatt-hours (TWh) in 2008 (representing just 1% of the total) to 252.1 TWh in 2023,” the EU statistics body said in a report published this morning.

In several Member States, including Portugal, most of the energy consumed in 2023 came from renewable sources. This is also the case in Austria (87.8%, mostly hydroelectric), Sweden (87.5%, mostly hydroelectric and wind) and Denmark (79.4%, mostly wind), Croatia (58.8%), Spain (56.9%), Latvia (54.3%) and Finland (52.4%).

Norway is not referenced for counting purposes, as it generates more electricity from renewables than it consumes in total, so the percentage exceeds 100%.

On the other hand, the percentage of electricity from renewable sources was below 20% in Malta (10.7%), Czechia (16.4%), Luxembourg (18.0%) and Hungary (19.5%).