In Europe, for the first time over a six-month period, more electricity was produced from solar and wind than from fossil fuels.
Electricity from solar panels and wind turbines grew to 30 percent of total production in the European Union over the past six months. At the same time, production from fossil fuels fell to 27 percent. The remaining electricity is generated from sources such as hydro and nuclear power.
In thirteen EU countries, more electricity was generated from solar and wind than from coal and gas. This milestone was reached for the first time in Germany, Belgium, Hungary, and the Netherlands.
Can the most polluting country save the climate?
Experts are optimistic about the speed of the energy transition, with China playing a key role.
The fact that, for the first time in Europe, more electricity is being produced from solar and wind than from fossil fuels over a six-month period is a milestone, but it only concerns electricity, which accounts for 20 percent of our energy demand.
Although electricity from solar and wind is increasing and the demand for electricity is decreasing, the price of electricity is barely falling. As long as gas plants are still needed, the electricity sector suffers from high gas prices. This is because the price depends on the most expensive generation method, which is often gas plants. These are used when wind and solar are not available.
The bottleneck in the use of solar and wind energy is mainly in storage. Currently, we can hardly store electricity temporarily when demand is lower than production. This is a pity because it means we “waste” a lot of electricity.
Comments are closed.