European Electricity Review 2023

Data on the EU’s electricity sector in 2022

Data on the EU electricity sector in 2022, with an overview of changes and trends over the last two decades.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it was immediately obvious that Europe’s energy system would have to change forever. Some expected that this new geopolitical landscape would mean that the transition from fossil fuels to clean power would be put on pause. Instead, the EU made an ambitious energy transition an immediate priority, central to its response to multiple emerging crises. Across Europe, the cost of fossil fuel reliance came into focus, with attention on how this fed into security vulnerabilities and cost of living increases, as well as unprecedented disasters stemming from extreme weather. Annual power sector data reflects the impact of these crises, but indicators looking towards the next year suggest that 2022 was the start of a profound shift that will continue long beyond the emergency responses of the moment.

Context

At 2809 TWh, the EU represents 10% of global electricity demand. Germany has the highest electricity demand (556 TWh), accounting for almost 20% of total EU demand.

Germany is followed by France (484 TWh), Italy (322 TWh) and Spain (265 TWh). The Nordic countries of Finland (15 MWh) and Sweden (13 MWh) have the highest demand per capita, while Romania (3 MWh) has the lowest.

Change in 2022

From October 2022, EU electricity demand has seen large year-on-year falls. It fell by 8.5% in Q4 2022 compared to the same period in 2021. Earlier in the year, electricity demand was only slightly down. The fall in demand was primarily due to mild weather, alongside demand reduction measures driven in part by high electricity prices. Across the year as a whole, EU demand fell by 2.7% (-79 TWh), from 2888 TWh in 2021 to 2809 TWh in 2022. This follows a substantial increase in 2021 of 118 TWh (+4.2%) as demand rebounded from a pandemic low.

France recorded the largest absolute reduction in demand in 2022 with demand falling by 22 TWh (-4.3%) to 484 TWh from 505 TWh. Slovakia saw the largest relative decrease with demand falling 8.1% (-2.5 TWh). Almost all EU countries experienced falling or stagnant demand in 2022. Malta, Cyprus, Ireland and Portugal were the exception, with demand growing between 3 and 6%.

Long-term trend

Until the Covid-19 pandemic, EU electricity use has been largely stable since 2010, following recovery from the financial crisis. In 2020, the impact of the pandemic saw demand reductions comparable with those of the financial crisis, with a 110 TWh fall in power consumption (compared to a 151 TWh drop in 2009). In 2022, demand was 2% below what it was at the time of the Paris Agreement in 2015.

EU-wide electricity demand per capita has remained broadly flat over the last two decades. In 2000, it was 6.2 MWh, rising only slightly to 6.3 MWh 2022. However, this varies at the country level. Eastern European countries such as Hungary, Croatia, Poland and Lithuania have seen moderate increases whereas western European countries like Germany, Spain and France have seen demand per capita decline.

EU electricity demand is expected to increase this decade as electrification expands across sectors, which may happen quicker than expected in response to the energy crisis. Demand savings, however, have so far kept track with these increases, and there are still many remaining opportunities for efficiency improvements.

Context

At 2809 TWh, the EU represents 10% of global electricity demand. Germany has the highest electricity demand (556 TWh), accounting for almost 20% of total EU demand.

At 230 million tonnes, Germany has by far the highest total power sector emissions of any EU country ahead of Poland, Italy and Spain. Poland has the most carbon-intensive electricity at 692 gCO2/kWh, due to its heavy use of coal for electricity generation. Across the EU, carbon intensity of electricity production is 255 gCO2/kWh.

Change in 2022

The last four months of 2022 saw year-on-year declines in EU power sector CO2 emissions, resulting from demand reductions and a reduction in fossil generation. Overall power sector emissions rose by 3.9% (+26 MtCO2) compared to 2021. This was despite year-on-year increases of over 20% for some months earlier in the year, as nuclear and hydro shortfalls required a large increase of fossil generation, and especially of coal generation.

The biggest absolute emissions increase was from Germany, producing 230 MtC02 (+13 MtCO2, +6.1%). Other increases came from Spain (+7.6 MtCO2, +19%), Italy (+6.9 MtCO2, +9.3%) and Bulgaria (+4.7 MtCO2, +23%). The second biggest emitter, Poland, had the greatest reduction in emissions of all EU countries (-3.7 MtCO2, -2.9%).

Long-term trend

2022 marks the second year in a row of increasing emissions after the post-pandemic demand rebound in 2021 saw emissions rise by 10% (+62 million tonnes of CO2), the largest ever year-on-year increase. However, the emissions rises in 2021 and 2022 followed three years of strong emissions reductions between 2018 and 2020.

The EU’s carbon intensity of electricity generation in 2022 (255 gCO2/kWh) is significantly lower than it was in 2000 (396 gCO2/kWh). Wind and solar deployment has accelerated since 2010, and despite the decline in nuclear generation (-29% since 2000), the EU grid continues to get cleaner. Total EU emissions have fallen by 32% (-329 MtCO2) since 2010.

Since the Paris Agreement in 2015, carbon intensity has fallen in every EU country (with the exception of France as a result of this year’s nuclear shortfall). As a result, EU annual power sector emissions have decreased by 22% (-195 MtCO2) over the same period.

Context

The EU was an early deployer of renewable power sources, and continues to be a leader in this area. A proposed 45% renewable energy goal for 2030 would see 69% of the EU’s electricity generated from renewables by that year.

Today however, EU electricity generation is still heavily reliant on fossil fuels. 39% (1,104 TWh) of its electricity is generated from coal, gas and other fossil sources. Coal produces 16% (447 TWh), gas 20% (557 TWh) and other fossil fuels 3.6% (100 TWh). Nuclear remains the single largest contributor to EU electricity at 22% (613 TWh) of the mix. 15% (420 TWh) is produced by wind and 7.3% (203 TWh) is produced by solar. Combined, wind and solar produce more electricity than any other fuel (22%, 623 TWh). The rest is produced by hydro (10%, 283 TWh), bioenergy (6%, 167 TWh) and other renewables (0.2%, 6.7 TWh).

Change in 2022

In 2022, changes in EU electricity generation were dominated by historic falls in hydro and nuclear generation. Hydro generation was heavily impacted by prolonged heat waves in the summer, falling by 66 TWh (-19%). Outages and maintenance of French plants significantly decreased availability of nuclear generation throughout most of the year. German nuclear plant closures further reduced nuclear output. As a consequence, nuclear generation dropped 119 TWh (-16%) to its lowest share of the mix (22%) in 40 years. French nuclear alone was responsible for 82 TWh of the shortfall. Low hydro and nuclear output meant that despite lower electricity demand, fossil generation increased year-on-year. Coal was up 28 TWh (+6.7%) and gas was up 4.5 TWh (+0.8%). Wind and solar generation continued to grow, with wind up 33 TWh (+8.6%) and solar growing an impressive 39 TWh (+24%). This brought their market share to 22%, up from 19% in the previous year. Other fossil power, other renewables and bioenergy generation all remained largely stable.

Long-term trend

The defining characteristic of the changes in EU electricity generation has been the growth of wind and solar generation as well as a reduction of coal.

Wind and solar generation has grown from just 13% (364 TWh) at the time of the Paris agreement to 22% (623 TWh) in 2022. In 2000, the share of wind and solar generation in the mix was less than 1%.

The growth of wind and solar has allowed the EU to reduce coal generation. In 2000, nearly a third of the EU’s electricity was generated using coal (30%, 800 TWh). It had only declined slightly to 25% (705 TWh) by 2015. Since then, the acceleration of wind and solar build up has reduced coal to just 16% (447 TWh) of the electricity mix.

Coal generation has fallen substantially, and is likely to decline further in the coming years. However, the EU’s second largest contributor to emissions from the power sector, fossil gas, has seen an increase over the last two decades. It grew from just 13% (331 TWh) in 2000 to 20% (557 TWh) of the mix in 2022. Gas has seen substantial increases since 2015, when it contributed only 14% (397 TWh) to EU electricity generation.

Despite falls in nuclear generation over the last two decades and since 2015, as well as the recent rise in gas generation, fossil generation as a whole has declined substantially. Electricity generated from clean sources now produces 61% (1,692 TWh) of the EU’s electricity. Fossil fuels generate 39% (1,104 TWh). In 2000, they produced 48% (1,263 TWh) and 52% (1,361 TWh) respectively.

Explore our Electricity sources trends for more detail: