Europe made extra electrical energy from sunshine than coal final yr, a report has discovered, in what analysts known as a “milestone” for the clear power transition.
Photo voltaic panels generated 11% of the EU’s electrical energy in 2024, whereas coal-burning energy vegetation generated 10%, in line with knowledge from local weather thinktank Ember. The position of fossil fuel fell for the fifth yr in a row to cowl 16% of the electrical energy combine.
“This can be a milestone,” stated Beatrice Petrovich, co-author of the report. “Coal is the oldest manner of manufacturing electrical energy, but additionally the dirtiest. Photo voltaic is the rising star.”
Europe’s industrialisation was powered by coal however the gas has pumped out extra planet-heating air pollution than some other power supply. Coal-burning within the EU energy sector peaked in 2007 and has halved within the years since.
On the similar time, clear sources of electrical energy have boomed. Wind and photo voltaic power rose to 29% of EU electrical energy era in 2024, whereas hydropower and nuclear power continued to rebound from the 2022 lows.
The report attributed the rise of photo voltaic – the fastest-growing energy supply final yr – to a document quantity of latest panels, regardless of Europe getting much less sunshine than the yr earlier than.
“It’s excellent news that the rise in photo voltaic construct is definitely translating to a discount in fossil gas burn,” stated Jenny Chase, a photo voltaic analyst at BloombergNEF, who was not concerned within the report.
The report discovered the share of coal fell in 16 of the 17 nations that also used it in 2024. It stated the gas has change into “marginal or absent” in most methods.
Germany and Poland, the 2 nations that burn most of Europe’s coal, have been amongst these the place there was a shift to cleaner sources of power. The share of coal in Germany’s electrical energy grid fell 17% year-on-year, whereas in Poland it dropped8%, the report discovered.
Fossil fuel additionally continued to expertise a “structural decline”, falling in 14 of the 26 nations that use fuel energy, the report discovered.
The findings come regardless of a small improve in electrical energy demand after two years of steep decline introduced on by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In response, the EU launched a plan to avoid wasting power, discover new fossil gas suppliers, and pace up the shift to scrub power.
“Coverage and markets in Europe have enabled renewables to drive down the shares of each coal and pure fuel,” stated Gregory Nemet, an power researcher on the College of Wisconsin-Madison and co-author of an Intergovernmental Panel on Local weather Change report.
“Wind and photo voltaic are rising in all massive economies, however coal has continued to develop in China and pure fuel has grown within the US,” he added. “Europe is profiting from the total swath of affordability, safety, and clear air advantages that renewables present.”
The report discovered the EU was on monitor to fulfill its goal of 400GW of put in photo voltaic capability by 2025. It hit 338GW in 2024, the report discovered, and can be “inside attain” of its 2030 goal of 750GW if it maintained the present tempo of development.
The report’s authors known as for investments in batteries, good meters and different types of “clear flexibility” that may assist align the provision of renewable power, which varies all through the day, with demand.
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