*of electricity production. This doesn’t cover diesel burned by cars and trucks or gas for heating. There is still quite a long way to go.
this year had been unusually lucky for clean energy, as both hydro and nuclear experienced a rebound, while electricity demand growth was slow due to warmer weather( growth in electricity demand should have been 2.1% ,but it was only 0.7% due to a warmer winter)
this all led to fossil fuel generation falling by 17% compared to last year( again,this is despite an increase in electricity demand)
without the growth of hydro and nuclear, fossil fuel generation would have fallen by “only” 8.5%, which is however still a good number
additionally , there is the increasing problem of solar getting undercounted, due to more rooftop solar and more residential batteries storing that solar power instead of selling it on the grid, so the growth in electricity demand was underestimated
best part is that solar and wind installations are going to increase in the coming years
>Under these scenarios, **wind and solar generation would still exceed fossil generation in the first half of 2025, even if hydro generation returned to its worst output for the period in the last five years and EU electricity demand grew at the fastest rate seen in the last five years**
all in all, still good numbers . Fossil fuels are losing relevance, we will still need them for days with low wind and solar ,but less and less every year
we are far less dependent on fossil fuel imports than we were in 2022, and every coming year we will be even less dependent
EU won the energy war with Russia
Well done!
Don’t let perfection be the thief of joy. It’s good to acknowledge the small wins on the way to something bigger.
That would have sense if it hab been correlated to european production.
As Europe is odering, more and more, its production “elsewhere”, it is easy to tell that we are cleaner and cleaner (french here)
This does make me more hopeful about the future than otherwise.
I am sure some downsides can be pointed out – like the rate at which replacing energy for green energy happens (which should be as fast as possible), or moving dirty production into global South (which should not happen, we are still on the same planet) – but prospect of leaving an actually inhabitable planet for future generations is The reason to be in favor of environmentalism.
I’ve seen other articles where the electricity companies complain because they find it difficult to manage the surplus, and end up paying companies to use the extra. Is there not some way we could store the surplus energy instead, at country-scale amounts? Pumped hydro or something….
I don’t think many people really fathom how insane the growth of renewables really is. A 50% increase over the last 2 years is absolutely bonkers at the level we’re at. And it looks like it’s still increasing too.
While it’s absolutely insane to see how fast renewables are growing in Europe, it’s difficult to see the cost of it. With energy cost about triple compared to NA and Asia, the real cost will be in the loss of competitiveness with all the effects this will bring. Unfortunately, the real effect is hard to pin point and happens gradually over a longer period.
Can we build more nuclear power-plant already ?? We need BOTH renewable energy and nuclear to get rid of the fossil ones. Look at France, they figured it out decades ago.
Impressive! That’s a double in 7 years.
Except we still don’t have a reliable way to store clean/green energy. So, welcome to the energy paradox, we generate more energy from Wind/Solar, and yet have record electricity prices.
Nice milestone, but the TREND is what is the most amazing.
It really looks like we gonna do it! And quicker than expected.
The second and third charts are too complicated to understand
14 comments
source: [https://ember-climate.org/insights/research/eu-wind-and-solar-overtake-fossil-fuels/](https://ember-climate.org/insights/research/eu-wind-and-solar-overtake-fossil-fuels/)
*of electricity production. This doesn’t cover diesel burned by cars and trucks or gas for heating. There is still quite a long way to go.
this year had been unusually lucky for clean energy, as both hydro and nuclear experienced a rebound, while electricity demand growth was slow due to warmer weather( growth in electricity demand should have been 2.1% ,but it was only 0.7% due to a warmer winter)
this all led to fossil fuel generation falling by 17% compared to last year( again,this is despite an increase in electricity demand)
without the growth of hydro and nuclear, fossil fuel generation would have fallen by “only” 8.5%, which is however still a good number
additionally , there is the increasing problem of solar getting undercounted, due to more rooftop solar and more residential batteries storing that solar power instead of selling it on the grid, so the growth in electricity demand was underestimated
best part is that solar and wind installations are going to increase in the coming years
>A structural shift as new capacity comes online
>While the scale of future falls in fossil generation is uncertain, significant wind and solar capacity additions throughout 2024 mean that this tipping point is likely to be permanent. [Wind Europe](https://windeurope.org/intelligence-platform/product/wind-energy-in-europe-2023-statistics-and-the-outlook-for-2024-2030) expects 15.8 GW of wind capacity to be installed in the EU in 2024, while [SolarPower Europe](https://www.solarpowereurope.org/insights/outlooks/eu-market-outlook-for-solar-power-2023-2027/detail#introduction) forecasts 62 GW of solar capacity additions over the same period.
>Under these scenarios, **wind and solar generation would still exceed fossil generation in the first half of 2025, even if hydro generation returned to its worst output for the period in the last five years and EU electricity demand grew at the fastest rate seen in the last five years**
all in all, still good numbers . Fossil fuels are losing relevance, we will still need them for days with low wind and solar ,but less and less every year
we are far less dependent on fossil fuel imports than we were in 2022, and every coming year we will be even less dependent
EU won the energy war with Russia
Well done!
Don’t let perfection be the thief of joy. It’s good to acknowledge the small wins on the way to something bigger.
That would have sense if it hab been correlated to european production.
As Europe is odering, more and more, its production “elsewhere”, it is easy to tell that we are cleaner and cleaner (french here)
This does make me more hopeful about the future than otherwise.
I am sure some downsides can be pointed out – like the rate at which replacing energy for green energy happens (which should be as fast as possible), or moving dirty production into global South (which should not happen, we are still on the same planet) – but prospect of leaving an actually inhabitable planet for future generations is The reason to be in favor of environmentalism.
I’ve seen other articles where the electricity companies complain because they find it difficult to manage the surplus, and end up paying companies to use the extra. Is there not some way we could store the surplus energy instead, at country-scale amounts? Pumped hydro or something….
I don’t think many people really fathom how insane the growth of renewables really is. A 50% increase over the last 2 years is absolutely bonkers at the level we’re at. And it looks like it’s still increasing too.
While it’s absolutely insane to see how fast renewables are growing in Europe, it’s difficult to see the cost of it. With energy cost about triple compared to NA and Asia, the real cost will be in the loss of competitiveness with all the effects this will bring. Unfortunately, the real effect is hard to pin point and happens gradually over a longer period.
Can we build more nuclear power-plant already ?? We need BOTH renewable energy and nuclear to get rid of the fossil ones. Look at France, they figured it out decades ago.
Impressive! That’s a double in 7 years.
Except we still don’t have a reliable way to store clean/green energy. So, welcome to the energy paradox, we generate more energy from Wind/Solar, and yet have record electricity prices.
Nice milestone, but the TREND is what is the most amazing.
It really looks like we gonna do it! And quicker than expected.
The second and third charts are too complicated to understand