Europe is gradually reducing its reliance on fossil fuels. A report published jointly by Ember and Agora Energiewende, two think tanks dedicated to clean energy, shows that by 2020, the continent will generate more electricity from renewable sources than from fossil fuels. According to the joint research team, this has never happened before.
Wind, solar, hydro and biomass account for 38% of Europe’s electricity (up from 34.6% in 2019), while fossil fuels fall to 37%. The biggest contributors to clean energy conversion were solar and wind, which grew by 15 percent and 9 percent, respectively. According to the co-authored report, the fastest growing countries in these segments are the Netherlands, Sweden and Belgium.
Meanwhile, coal and nuclear power generation declined by 20 percent and 10 percent, respectively. (Nuclear energy is a separate category from renewables and fossil fuels.) However, natural gas remains popular throughout the European continent. The energy source remains relatively cheap throughout the pandemic, which is why it fell by only 4% in 12 months.
In its co-authored report, the think tank explains, “Despite its decline in 2020, natural gas is still 14% higher than in 2015. Natural gas production in Greece, the Netherlands and Poland increases in 2020. “As a result, wind and solar are now effectively replacing coal, not gas, across Europe.
Europe has been moving slowly in that direction for some Time. And we already know that some countries like the UK managed to get more electricity generated from renewables than fossil fuels last year. Nonetheless, the milestone is still a big one.
As Ember and Agora Energiewende point out in their report, it appears that the ongoing Wuhan pneumonia pandemic is not having much of an impact on conversion. Nonetheless, there is still work to be done. According to the think tank, biomass growth has effectively “stalled” since 2018. There hasn’t been much change in hydropower either – although generation is up from 2019, this is due to changes in precipitation rather than new installations.
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