In the winter of the energy crisis, renewables have overtaken fossils

From October to March, renewables covered 40% of energy production compared to 37 from fossil fuels.It is the first time this has happened in Europe.

• For the first time, renewables overtook fossil fuels in electricity generation last winter in Europe.
• The return to coal due to the war triggered by Russia never occurred.
• Thanks to the warmer temperatures in winter, but the roles of governments and citizens were fundamental.

A new analysis from the energy think tank Ember reveals that the energies renewables generated more electricity compared to fossil fuels during the winter, for the first time in Europe.All this happened despite the energy crisis which characterized the winter of 2022-2023:the demand for energy produced from fossil fuels has in fact decreased by 12 percent compared to the previous winter.Instead, the energies renewables produced 40 percent of electricity in the European Union between October 2022 and March 2023, against fossil fuels stuck at 37 percent.

And with fossil fuel production declining, emissions from the sector energy in the EU during the winter were the lowest ever.

Coal at historic low in Poland's electricity mix

As Ember points out, Coal and gas production decreased compared to the previous winter.Coal energy decreased by 11 percent (-27 TWh) and gas energy by 13 percent (-38 TWh).Nuclear energy also decreased, precisely by 47 TWh, mainly due to the out-of-use power plants in France.As regards coal and gas, however, the negative sign is the result of 7 percent drop in electricity demand total in the European Union (-94 TWh), thanks to the high prices of fossil fuels.

Poland And Germany, the two largest producers of coal energy in Europe, alone accounted for 70 percent of the reduction in energy produced with this type of fuel.In doing so, the most climate-damaging fossil fuel has reached a new low in the Polish electricity mix, falling below two-thirds of energy generation for the first time.

Italy recorded the largest absolute decline in gas production

Italy and Spain accounted for approx two-thirds of the reduction of gas production in the EU compared to the previous winter.This occurred despite production support with subsidies introduced to reduce costs.

But Italy, together with Finland and Hungary, goes against the trend with coal:these three countries, in fact, unlike all the others, have increased their production.Despite this, the generalized return to coal much vaunted during the energy crisis triggered by the war never occurred.Also because the power plants reactivated for fear of running out of energy were used on average at 27 percent of their capacity.

Renewables demonstrate that coal can be abandoned

Widespread demand cuts have allowed the European Union to save electricity for a value of 12 billion euros during the winter.Overall, all European countries – with the exception of Ireland – have succeeded to reduce by 5 percent energy consumption during peak hours while only Romania, Slovakia and Greece achieved the 10 percent voluntary reduction target set by EU emergency legislation between November and March.

Ember points out that these reductions in demand can be partly attributed to higher winter temperatures to the average across Europe, which have reduced the demand for electric heating.But the same think tank underlines that the government's energy saving measures and citizens' action have also played a fundamental role.

“Europe has faced a winter of crisis, with rising energy costs and supply problems triggered by the Russian invasion of Ukraine,” was the comment of Chris Rosslowe, an analyst at Ember.“Europe has overcome those difficult months, but cannot rely on cuts of demand in times of emergency and on the mild climate for future years".The only alternative is therefore abandon fossil fuels as soon as possible and focus massively on energy from renewable sources.