For the first time in the EU, more power comes from sun and wind than from fossil fuels

This article was last updated on July 30, 2024

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For the first time in the EU, more power comes from sun and wind than from fossil fuels

In Europe, for the first time in a period of six months, more electricity was produced from sun and wind than from fossil fuels. This was also the case in the Netherlands, reports energy think tank Ember.

Electricity from solar panels and wind turbines grew to 30 percent of total production in the European Union in the past six months. At the same time, production from fossil fuels fell to 27 percent. The rest of the power is generated, for example, from water and nuclear energy.

In thirteen EU countries, more electricity was generated from sun and wind than from coal and gas. This milestone was reached for the first time in Germany, Belgium, Hungary and the Netherlands.

High gas prices

Martien Visser, lecturer in energy transition at Hanze University of Applied Sciences, speaks of a milestone, but also adds a note. “It only concerns electricity. That is 20 percent of our energy demand.”

Although power from sun and wind is increasing and the demand for electricity is decreasing, the price of electricity is hardly decreasing, Visser sees. “As long as gas-fired power stations are still needed, the electricity sector will suffer from high gas prices.”

This is because the price depends on the most expensive means of generation, which are often gas-fired power stations, he explains. These resources are deployed as soon as wind and sun are not available.

The bottleneck in the use of solar and wind energy is mainly in storage. “At the moment, we can hardly store electricity temporarily if demand is lower than production.” That’s a shame, says Visser, because it means we are “throwing away” a lot of electricity.