It is thanks to renewable energies that Europe has been able to avoid a more serious energy crisis than the one it has gone through. For the first time, wind and solar power provided more power to European Union countries than natural gas in 2022, according to a report by think tank Ember released on Tuesday. A year marked by energy upheavals precipitated by the war in Ukraine.
In detail, wind and solar provided in 2022 almost a quarter (22%) of all the electricity consumed in the European Union, much more than coal-based electricity (16%) and even exceeding “for the first time fossil gas (20%)” used in electricity production, according to the European Electricity Review of the energy think tank.
“Europe has avoided the worst of the energy crisis,” said Dave Jones, head of data analysis at Ember quoted in a press release. “The shocks of 2022 caused only a slight increase in coal power but a huge wave of support for renewables. Any fear of a coal rebound is now over,” says the analyst.
Solar power
This rise in renewables was driven by solar energy, the production of which increased by 39 terawatt hours (TWh, +24%) compared to 2021, a record. By way of comparison, France’s nuclear power plants produced 279 TWh in 2022. After the invasion of Ukraine and the gradual closing of Russian gas pipelines, Europe had to massively import liquefied natural gas transported by ship and relight coal-fired power plants. But without solar and wind power, it would have been necessary to use even more coal, according to analysts.
For Ember, electricity from wind and solar farms has therefore proven to be very useful in overcoming both the gas crisis and the electricity crisis that hit Europe at the same time, due to the shutdown of many nuclear reactors. French and a drought that lowered the levels of the dams. “Record growth in solar and wind power has helped to offset the nuclear and hydro power deficit,” according to the report.