
Breadcrumbs
EU Power Sector 2019
Annual review of the European electricity transition shows that for the first time wind and solar power overtook coal.
Highlights
18%
Share of wind and solar in EU electricity in 2019
15%
Share of coal in EU electricity in 2019
About
Ember’s sixth annual report, The European Power Sector in 2019, was published in partnership with the German think-tank, Agora Energiewende.
The report aggregates data from every EU country, to present the latest insights on Europe’s electricity transition. The data is provided open source and free to download for you to make your own analysis.
Executive summary
Coal collapses, overtaken by wind and solar
Electricity Analyst, Ember
Europe is leading the world on rapidly replacing coal generation with wind and solar, and as a result, power sector CO2 emissions have never fallen so quickly. 30% of all global fossil emissions still come from coal generation – so it’s critical that there is an urgent focus to transition away from coal in all countries. Europe has become a test-bed for replacing coal with wind & solar power, and the fast results should give reassurance to other countries that they can rapidly phase out coal too.

Conclusion
Europe’s energy transition is taking off
The European Green Deal has put the fight against the climate crisis at the very core of all EU policy work over the next five years: EU heads of state have endorsed Europe to become the first greenhouse gas neutral continent by 2050, and the EU commission is putting forward proposals to raise Europe’s 2030 greenhouse gas reduction target to -50% or -55% below 1990 levels. This implies power sector emissions will keep falling, even if electricity demand increases as transport, heating industry continue to electrify.
Supporting Material
Acknowledgements
Cover photo by Phil MacDonald. Thanks for the other photos to Andreas Gücklhorn, Nick Nice, Dawid Zawiła, Jeremy Bishop.