Last year, CO2 emissions from power plants located in the European Union dropped the most since at least thirty years, since more precise data are known. At the same time, the share of renewable energy sources, which already account for over 1/3 of the generation in the EU energy sector, has increased to the highest level in the EU energy mix.
The European Power Sector report shows that in 2019, the energy sector in the European Union reduced its CO2 emissions by a record 12 percent, which is due to a reduction in the operation of coal power plants. Power plants emitted 120 tons of CO2 less in 2019 compared to the previous year.
In 2019, for 80 percent power generation in five countries – Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Great Britain and Italy – was responsible for the decline in hard coal generation. On the other hand, 2/3 of the power plants in Germany and Poland were responsible for the decline in brown coal generation.
The capacity of European wind farms increased last year by 16.8 GW, which is a result of 5.1 GW better than the increase in wind energy capacity in the EU recorded in 2018.
On the other hand, the capacity of photovoltaic power plants in the European Union was to increase by 16.7 GW last year compared to the result of 8.2 GW recorded in 2018.
The authors of the report calculated that the increase in wind and PV generation last year was recorded by all European Union countries – with the exception of the Czech Republic, and the share of renewable energy in the EU’s production mix increased to 35 percent.
THE European Power Sector in 2019