2025 at a glance

The EU power sector in 2025

Wind and solar produced more electricity than fossil fuels in the EU for the first time, thanks to record solar growth and despite an increase in gas power generation. Renewables provided nearly half of EU power in 2025, similar to 2024, with solar generation working in tandem with wind. Coal continued its terminal decline, falling to a new historic low.

The EU’s transition to clean power reached a tipping point in 2025 as wind and solar generated more electricity than fossil sources for the first time. Wind and solar generated 30.1% of EU electricity in 2025 (841 TWh), while all fossil power sources generated 29.0% (809 TWh). 

Over the past decade, wind and solar have shown a consistent upward trend. This accelerated in the past five years, when their share of EU power increased by over 10 percentage points (from 19.7% in 2020 to 30.1 % in 2025). This is in stark contrast with the decline in fossil power over the same period, falling by almost 8 percentage points from 36.7% of the EU power in 2020 to 29.0% in 2025. The other two major clean power sources, hydro and nuclear, remained stable or slightly declined over the past five years.

For the majority of EU countries, wind and solar have become central in the electricity mix. In 2025, wind and solar generated more electricity than all fossil sources in 14 of the 27 EU countries. Two countries achieved this milestone for the first time in 2025: the Netherlands and Croatia. In the Netherlands this was due to strong solar growth (+31% compared to 2024), whereas Croatia’s result was pushed by strong growth in solar and wind output (+57% and +19% compared to 2024, respectively). Largely thanks to strong growth in solar generation, formerly coal-heavy countries such as Greece, Bulgaria and Slovenia are very close to reaching this tipping point.

A record annual increase in solar generation is behind the milestone moment for EU homegrown power. Solar grew by 62 TWh (+20.1%) compared to 2024 – an increase comparable to the annual electricity production of three French nuclear power plants.

In total, solar generated a record 369 TWh in 2025, more than double the output in 2020 (145 TWh). The rapid solar growth in 2025 continued a trend of strong expansion, with an average annual growth in generation of 21% over the past five years: far beyond any other energy source.

Record growth in solar power is predominantly due to an expanding EU fleet. Solar capacity grew by 65.1 GW in 2025, nearly equally split between utility-scale solar farms and new rooftop installations. This is a 19% increase in total cumulative installed capacity within a single year, more than any other energy source. 

In 2025, all EU countries saw growth in solar generation compared to the year before. Solar’s share in the EU’s annual electricity generation increased to an all-time high of over 13%, with Hungary, Cyprus, Greece, Spain and the Netherlands recording solar shares above 20%. This is more than double the global average in the first half of 2025 (8.8%). Out of the top ten countries with the highest solar shares across the globe, seven are in the EU. In June 2025, solar became the largest EU power source for the first month ever.

Renewables provided nearly half of EU electricity in 2025 (47.7%, 1331 TWh). Despite unusual weather conditions, the renewable share remained stable compared to 2024 (47.9%).

Renewables stayed stable because the same weather conditions that caused a drop in wind and hydro output boosted solar generation. Unusually warm temperatures over the north Atlantic (+3-4°C over the long-term average) led to a dry and low-wind first quarter of 2025. Cumulative rainfall in Northern Europe was 33% lower and average wind speeds fell by 23% in January-March compared to the average in the last five years.

A larger EU wind fleet, thanks to 5.3 GW of new wind commissioned in the first half of 2025, was not enough to compensate for the exceptionally low wind speeds at the start of the year. Wind production was 18% lower in the first four months of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024.

However, solar generation thrived due to exceptionally sunny conditions in Northern Europe, helping balance the drop in wind generation in the first four months of 2025. The average irradiation was 6% higher than the previous five years. Sunnier conditions particularly improved solar output in Belgium and in the Netherlands, where weather alone boosted output by 26% and 21%, respectively, and had a positive impact on Germany (+15%) and France (+10%) too. Improved solar conditions contributed 7 TWh, or about 11% of the EU’s year-on-year growth in solar generation, with the rest coming from the structural increase in capacity.

The boost in solar power was well timed to help with the peak in electricity consumption for air conditioning during summer heatwaves. While daily power demand grew by up to 14% during the June-July 2025 heatwave, overall EU demand remained stagnant in 2025. It rose by only 15 TWh (+0.6%) from 2024 and remained 4% below 2019 levels. 

Later in the year, thanks to a return to normal wind conditions and the fleet expansion, wind remained the second largest EU electricity source at 16.9% of EU power, generating more than gas (16.7%).

After reaching a recent high of 569 TWh in 2019, gas power generation in the EU declined for five consecutive years, falling to 432 TWh in 2024. Gas power increased in 2025 (+34 TWh, +8%, compared to 2024), but it remained 18% lower than its pre-energy crisis peak. Gas remained lower than wind power for the third year running.

The increased gas generation, combined with higher gas prices (+5.6% in 2025 compared to 2024), meant that the EU spent €32 billion to import fossil gas for power generation in 2025, 16% more than in 2024. This is the first annual increase in the EU gas import bill since the 2022 energy crisis, with Italy and Germany paying the most.

Not every EU country experienced a gas power increase in 2025, however. Gas power increased in 15 of the 27 EU countries, with Spain (+9.7 TWh, +19%), Italy (+6.5 TWh, +5.5%) and Germany (+4.3 TWh, +5.4%) alone accounting for 60% of the increase. In all cases, an important driver was lower hydro domestically and abroad. 

In Germany, gas replaced hydro as a dispatchable fuel to meet demand in hours with low solar and wind production. In fact, the hours with the largest increase in gas coincided with the biggest fall in generation from domestic hydro and a decrease in net imports, in particular from France, Switzerland and Austria – all experiencing a fall in hydro on a similar scale to Germany. 

In Spain, the impact of a drop in hydro generation was exacerbated by an increased use of gas power plants for grid services, such as voltage control, after the Iberian blackout in April 2025. This increased gas use for grid services in Spain is however expected to be temporary as long-awaited rule changes were approved in June 2025, allowing generators other than gas plants to participate in voltage control services starting from January 2026. Many of the grid services provided by gas in Spain’s power system can equally be provided by clean alternatives.

Coal declined yet again in 2025, bringing the end of the most polluting fuel even closer in the EU. Coal remained below a tenth EU power (9.2%), generating 257 TWh, a new historic low. This is a remarkable change considering that ten years prior coal represented nearly a quarter of EU electricity generation (24.6%), generating 705 TWh. Coal’s importance in the EU mix is far below the global average (33.1% in the first half of 2025). 

Coal is becoming increasingly marginal across the bloc: 19 EU countries have zero or less than 5% coal in their power mix (two more than in 2024). Ireland stopped burning coal in June 2025. In April, Finland de facto phased coal out ahead of the country’s mid-2029 deadline to exit coal. Strong wind growth helped to fill the gap, reaching the highest share of Finnish electricity on record in 2025 (27%).  

Over the past decade, as coal use declined, gas did not rise to fill the gap. In each of the 22 EU countries that ever had coal in their generation mix, the reduction in coal over the last ten years was not matched by an equal increase in gas or other fossil fuels.

The EU’s remaining coal power is highly concentrated in just two countries, Germany and Poland, which accounted for more than 74% of the EU’s coal generation in 2025. However, coal fell even here compared to 2024: by 3.2% and 6.6% in Germany and Poland, respectively. In Germany and Poland coal fell to an all-time low in 2025 (103 TWh and 87 TWh).