Shifting fossil fuels to minority positions is one of Europe’s horizons in its strategy to fight climate change. An objective of which you could already catch a glimpse at the end of a path that is still long. But the continent has already come a long way and for the first time, has ensured that electricity generation from renewable energy sources (wind and solar energy) exceeds that from fossil fuels for a full semesterThis is evident from a report by the specialist group Ember.
In Spain, photovoltaic energy will grow twice as much as the European average by 2024according to a study by Ember. Gas reduces its contribution for the fifth consecutive year and wind energy remains the second source after nuclear energy.
LRenewable energies have continued their “rapid” rise in the European Union in 2024. Last year, photovoltaic energy generation surpassed coal for the first timewhile wind power prevailed over gas for the second year in a row, which continues to decline, according to an analysis by the think tank energetic Ember published this Thursday.
The report, the first to provide a complete picture of the changes in the electricity system in 2024, shows this Solar energy generated 11% of the electricity in the Twenty-Sevenwhile coal fell below 10% for the first time.
The leading role follows nuclear energy, which continues to recover from the decline in 2022 and generates 24% of electricityfollowed by wind energy, which represents 17% of the mix. Gas continues to decline for the fifth consecutive year, down to 16%.
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He The panorama is radically different from that of 2019, the year the EU adopted the European Green Deal. Then gas and coal were the second and third energy sources in the mix, and the big drop in the latter, the most polluting energy, has pushed it to sixth place, bringing the end closer.
«Fossil fuels are losing their dominance in the EU’s energy supply“said Chris Rosslowe, Ember analyst and lead author of the report. «At the beginning of European Green Deal in 2019, “Few thought the EU’s energy transition could get to where it is today.”
Las Energy sector emissions have fallen by half from their 2007 peakwhile Renewable energy sources already generate almost half of the electricity in the EU.
Record for photovoltaic energy in Spain
The rise of solar energy is ‘meteoric’ according to Ember. This energy is growing in all countries of the Union, while in half of them coal is a residual product: either it does not generate electricity or the electricity it does produce represents less than 5% of the mix.
In Spain, photovoltaic energy has also reached a recordgenerating the 21% of electricity, almost double the European average (11%) and in 2023 this was 17%. Our country records the largest growth in this energy for the second year in a row, with an addition of 11 TWh.
Spain is thus positioned as the third country with the highest share of this energy source in its electricity mix (after Hungary and Greece) and second in total generation (after Germany).
Wind energy continues to grow, but must ‘step on the accelerator’
As for wind, it is developing as the second energy source, although its use does not comply with European objectives and national plans. Wind capacity should double between now and 2030 compared to 2024 levels to achieve these goals, Rosslowe said.
On the growth of wind and solar energy adds the nuclear energy, which continues to recover from unprecedented cuts in France in 2022 and growing at 5%, and hydropower, which increases by 10% to a fraction of 13% of the mix, thanks to above-average rainfall.