The share of wind and solar energy in electricity production

The share of wind and solar energy in electricity production in the European Union (EU) has reached a record 30%, while the share of fossil fuels is estimated at 29%. This is clear from the report of the analysis company Ember.

The main contribution to this jump is due to photovoltaic capacities, the production of which jumped by 62.1 TWh or 20.1% last year. In 2025, 369 TWh were produced based on solar power, which is twice as much as in 2020.

An increase in solar power plants is reported for the entire EU, as in Hungary, Greece, Spain, the Netherlands and Cyprus, electricity production based on these capacities was 20% more. Meanwhile, back in June last year, it was reported that for this month the sun was the basis of electricity production.

As is clear from the report, although all renewable energy sources (RES) provided almost half of electricity production in the countries of the European Union, despite not very favorable weather conditions, they were the basis for the decline in the share of hydropower capacity by 12% and wind power plants – by 2%.

Against this background, however, wind remains the second largest source of electricity production in the EU, but still after nuclear energy, which accounts for 17% of production.

The significant reduction in hydropower generation in 2025 has led to an increase in gas-fired electricity generation – by 34 TWh, or 8 percent. However, total gas-fired generation last year was 18 percent below the peak level recorded in 2019. According to the report, all renewables, including solar, wind, hydropower, biomass plus other renewable energy sources, generated a total of 1,331 TWh of energy in the EU last year, representing a 47.7 percent share of the total mix, which is still 0.2 percent less than the previous year. The report says that the share has remained stable as weather conditions that were the cause of the decline in wind and hydropower have led to an increase in solar power generation.

The decline in coal capacity in the EU continued in 2025, Ember also points out. Last year, production from them fell by as much as 5% to a historic low. The share of coal in electricity production was around 9.2%. In 19 EU countries, the share of coal was even zero or below five percent.

As for consumption, in 2025 it jumped in the EU by 0.6% to 2770 TWh.

A rapid jump is reported in terms of energy storage systems. If in 2023 the total installed capacity for energy storage in batteries was 4 GW, then for 2025 the jump is noticeable because it is about 10 GW, it is also clear from Ember's data.