In 2023, renewable energy sources accounted for 45.3% of the EU’s gross electricity consumption, marking a significant increase of 4.1 percentage points (pp) from 2022, according to Eurostat data released on February 21. This represents the largest annual increase since records began in 2004. The second and third largest increases were recorded in 2022 (3.5 pp) and 2020 (3.3 pp), respectively.
Wind power was the primary contributor to renewable electricity generation, accounting for nearly two-thirds of the total. Solar energy followed, making up 20.5%, while solid biofuels and other renewable sources contributed 6.2% and 6.6%, respectively. The overall growth in renewable electricity over the past decade has been largely driven by the expansion of wind and solar power, with solar emerging as the fastest-growing source. Solar power production surged from just 7.4 terawatt-hours (TWh) in 2008 (1% of total electricity) to 252.1 TWh in 2023.
Several EU countries generated more than 75% of their electricity from renewables in 2023, including Austria (87.8%, primarily hydro), Sweden (87.5%, mainly hydro and wind), and Denmark (79.4%, predominantly wind). Other countries with renewable energy shares exceeding 50% included Portugal (63.0%), Croatia (58.8%), Spain (56.9%), Latvia (54.3%) and Finland (52.4%).
Conversely, the share of electricity from renewable sources remained below 20% in some EU nations. The lowest shares were recorded in Malta (10.7%), Czechia (16.4%), Luxembourg (18.0%) and Hungary (19.5%).
