According to the analysis performed by think tank Ember, solar power plants generated about 10 % of EU-27 electricity during their peak months of June and July this year.
New records were set in eight EU countries including Hungary. Seven EU countries generated over a tenth of their electricity from solar panels in June-July 2021, with the Netherlands (17 %), Germany (17 %), Spain (16 %), Greece (13 %) and Italy (13 %) leading the way. However, solar power plants still generated less electricity than Europe’s coal-fired power plants, even during these summer months.
The analysis shows that solar panels have generated a record 10 % of EU electricity (39 TWh) in June-July 2021, up from 28 TWh in the same period in 2018.
Hungary is definitely a frontrunner in the CEE region. The country has quadrupled its solar share since the summer of 2018 and solar electricity generation overtook coal for the first time this summer. The share of solar in total electricity generation increased from 3 % in 2018 to 12 % in 2021, while coal-based generation fell from 17 to 10 % in the same period.
The share of solar in total electricity generation in Bulgaria rose from 3.5 to 5 %, while the shares in Romania and Croatia remained approximately the same and below 3 %.
Charles Moore from Ember said that the cost of solar power has tumbled in the last decade and there are the first signs of Europe’s solar revolution in countries like Spain, the Netherlands, Hungary and even coal-heavy Poland, However, there is a long way to go before solar provides more power than fossil fuels, even in the height of Europe’s summer sun, said Moore, adding that weather extremes across Europe this summer have given governments an urgent wake-up call and now they must turn climate targets into climate action by stepping up solar deployment.
