Solar energy provided ten percent of the EU's electricity in June and July

In June and July this year, solar energy contributed to a tenth of all electricity production in the European Union. This was stated by the Belga news agency, referring to the latest report of the independent climate opinion platform Ember. According to the report, photovoltaics produced a record amount of electricity in the EU in June and July - almost 39 terawatt hours. However, according to experts from a global think-tank, this was not enough for solar panels to exceed the production of electricity from coal-fired power plants. At the same time, however, these are much higher numbers than in 2018, when only 28 terawatt hours of electricity were produced during the same summer period thanks to energy from the sun. According to Ember experts, the increase in photovoltaics in the overall energy mix, observed since 2018, is the result of ambitious EU legislation. The largest increase in the share of solar electricity in the European Union - from 1.1 terawatt-hours in 2018 to 3.2 terawatt-hours this year - was recorded in the Netherlands. The share of solar energy in total energy production in the Netherlands has increased from 7 percent to 17 percent. However, Belgium, which is also trying to increase the share of energy renewables in the national mix, saw a decline in photovoltaics in total electricity production from 9 percent to 8 percent in the first two months of this summer compared to 2018. According to Ember, the largest producer of photovoltaic electricity in the EU was Germany in the summer of 2021, which was able to secure 17% of total electricity production in this way. Belga pointed out that the installation of new solar panels is progressing too slowly in the EU due to the common climate targets set by the Euroblock. By 2030, the Union wants renewables to account for 40% of total energy consumption. In 2019, this share was around 20%.