Energia Solare: scopri tutti i vantaggi dell'energia rinnovabile - Wekiwi
Attraverso i pannelli solari, l'energia solare viene trasformata in energia utile per raffreddare o riscaldare i vari dispositivi alimentati.
autorevole studio tedesco
Ma qual è lo sviluppo dell’ energia fotovoltaica in Italia e nel mondo? Secondo un <anchor>autorevole studio tedesco</anchor>, l’Italia è uno dei Paesi europei più virtuosi per produzione di energia solare. In particolare, gli impianti fotovoltaici sono sempre più presenti nel territorio e nel 2019, per la prima volta in Europa, l’eolico e il fotovoltaico hanno prodotto più energia elettrica del carbone, crollato del 24% rispetto al 2018. Tra i maggiori produttori di energia fotovoltaica in Europa, troviamo: Olanda, Spagna, Francia, Italia e Germania. Nel complesso il settore copre circa il 20% delle fonti di energia rinnovabili in Italia, che in tutto ammontano a quasi 115.000 gigawattora.
The European power sector in 2019Menu
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5 February 2020

# The European power sector in 2019

Up-to-date analysis on the electricity transition

The European Power Sector in 2019
Illustration by Agora Energiewende

Overview

## Preface

The power sector is playing a leading role in the decarbonisation of Europe, so it is critical to track the progress of the electricity transition as accurately and timely as possible.

For the third year in a row, Sandbag and Agora Energiewende have joined forces to update on the European electricity sector transition. Key topics include renewables growth, conventional power generation, electricity consumption, and CO₂ emissions.

We provide our best-view of 2019 electricity consumption, generation and emissions by country. This data is available to download in order to enable others to also perform up-to-date analysis.

## Key findings

1. Coal generation collapsed by 24% in the EU in 2019.

Hard coal generation dropped by 32%, while lignite decreased by 16%. This development is driven by CO₂ price increases and deployment of renewables. Gas replaced around half of the coal, solar and wind the other half. The decline of coal will continue: Greece and Hungary both made commitments in 2019 to phase out coal, bringing the total of member states phasing out coal to 15. Only Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and Slovenia are yet to start.

2. The fall in coal means CO₂ emissions in Europe’s power sector fell by a record 120 Mt, or 12% in 2019.

This is likely to be the largest ever fall. EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) stationary emissions, including heavy industry, fell by 7.6% in 2019, implying that industrial emissions are likely to have decreased by only 1%. Nevertheless, overall emissions covered by the EU ETS are falling much faster than the cap; showing the central role of a further strengthening of the EU ETS to accelerate climate action in Europe.

3. Renewables rose to a new record supplying 35% of EU electricity.

For the first time, wind and solar combined provided more electricity than coal, contributing 18% of EU electricity in 2019. This is more than a doubling of market share since 2013. The increase in wind and solar generation was strongest in western Europe, while Poland and Greece have started to engage. The rest of eastern Europe is significantly lagging behind. The economic opportunities of low-cost renewables became increasingly visible. 2019 saw record low auction prices for offshore wind (UK) and solar (Portugal) - below wholesale prices – and the largest wholesale price decreases in countries where wind and solar expanded most.

4. 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.

## Bibliographical data

Authors

Agora Energiewende: Fabian Hein, Matthias Buck, Dr. Patrick Graichen; Sandbag: Dave Jones

Publication number

172/02-A-2020/EN

Version number

1.2

Publication date

5 February 2020

Pages

48

Suggested Citation

Agora Energiewende and Sandbag (2020): The European Power Sector in 2019. Up-to-date analysis on the electricity transition.

Project

This publication was produced within the framework of the project

The power sector in the EU 2019.

## Downloads

Up-to-date analysis on the electricity transition

This slide deck contains all graphics from our annual review 2019

Excel file that lists the generation, production and emissions data that were used for the development of this study

## All figures in this publication

Directly to:...Fig.Fig 1-1 Changes in EU 28 electricity generation from 2018 to 2019Fig.Fig 1-2 EU 28 electricity generationFig.Fig 1-3 Generation mix in 2018 and 2019Fig.Fig 2-1 EU 28 electricity consumption, GDP (indexed)Fig.Fig 2-2 Change in electricity consumption from 2010 to 2019Fig.Fig 3-1 EU 28 renewables share (as percentage of gross electricity production)Fig.Fig 3-2 Year-on-year changes in EU 28 electricity generation by wind, solar and biomassFig.Fig 3-3 Solar as percentage of national electricity productionFig.Fig 3-4 EU 28 solar electricity generationFig.Fig 3-5 EU 28 annual new solar PV installationsFig.Fig 3-6 EU 28 wind electricity generationFig.Fig 3-7 EU 28 annual new wind installationsFig.Fig 3-8 EU 28 biomass electricity generationFig.Fig 3-9 EU 28 hydro electricity generationFig.Fig 3-10 2030 projection of renewable electricity share in European Commission’s Long Term StrategyFig.Fig 3-11 Share of RES in total generation in the respective countriesFig.Fig 3-12 Additional generation in 2019 from wind and solar (right) and share of additional wind and solarFig.Fig 4-1 EU 28 Conventional electricity generationFig.Fig 4-2 EU 28 generation from hard coal and lignite combined as well as wind, solar and biomassFig.Fig 4-3 EU 28 hard coal electricity generationFig.Fig 4-4 Electricity mix percentage point changes from 2012 to 2019Fig.Fig 4-5 EU 28 lignite electricity generationFig.Fig 4-6 Coal phase-out dates and remaining coal capacitiesFig.Fig 4-7 EU 28 gas-?red electricity generationFig.Fig 4-8 EU 28 nuclear electricity generationFig.Fig 5-1 CO₂ intensity of electricity consumption and change in relation to 2018Fig.Fig 5-2 Annual change in EU ETS emissionsFig.Fig 5-3 EU ETS emissions split by sector and changes, 2019 vs. 2012Fig.Fig 5-4 EU ETS emissions and capFig.Fig 6-1 Coal and gas plant running costs (average day-ahead price)Fig.Fig 6-2 Average day-ahead prices, changes to 2018Fig.Fig 8-1 Carbon intensity of power generationFig.Tab-01 Last year’s calculation accuracyFig.Tab-02 Power production in 2019, by fuel and country, TWhFig.Tab-03 Changes from 2018 to 2019, by fuel and country, TWh

### Changes in EU 28 electricity generation from 2018 to 2019

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### EU 28 electricity generation

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All figures

### Generation mix in 2018 and 2019

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### EU 28 electricity consumption, GDP (indexed)

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### Change in electricity consumption from 2010 to 2019

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### EU 28 renewables share (as percentage of gross electricity production)

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### Year-on-year changes in EU 28 electricity generation by wind, solar and biomass

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### Solar as percentage of national electricity production

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### EU 28 solar electricity generation

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### EU 28 annual new solar PV installations

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### EU 28 wind electricity generation

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### EU 28 annual new wind installations

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### EU 28 biomass electricity generation

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### EU 28 hydro electricity generation

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### 2030 projection of renewable electricity share in European Commission’s Long Term Strategy

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### Share of RES in total generation in the respective countries

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### Additional generation in 2019 from wind and solar (right) and share of additional wind and solar

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### EU 28 Conventional electricity generation

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### EU 28 generation from hard coal and lignite combined as well as wind, solar and biomass

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### EU 28 hard coal electricity generation

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### Electricity mix percentage point changes from 2012 to 2019

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### EU 28 lignite electricity generation

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### Coal phase-out dates and remaining coal capacities

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### EU 28 gas-?red electricity generation

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### EU 28 nuclear electricity generation

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### CO₂ intensity of electricity consumption and change in relation to 2018

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### Annual change in EU ETS emissions

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### EU ETS emissions split by sector and changes, 2019 vs. 2012

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### EU ETS emissions and cap

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### Coal and gas plant running costs (average day-ahead price)

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### Average day-ahead prices, changes to 2018

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### Carbon intensity of power generation

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### Last year’s calculation accuracy

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### Power production in 2019, by fuel and country, TWh

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### Changes from 2018 to 2019, by fuel and country, TWh

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## Our experts

- 

## Matthias Buck

Director Europe

- E-Mail

- 

## Fabian Hein

Project Manager EU Policy

- E-Mail

- 

## Patrick Graichen

Executive Director (until December 2021)

## Partner

- 

### Sandbag

## Related

- 

20 February 2020 11:00 - 12:00h

### Energy transition in the European power sector: state of affairs in 2019

Format

Webinar

Media content
Video

- 5 February 2020 13:00 - 15:15h

### Energy transition in the power sector in Europe: state of affairs in 2019

A review of developments in 2019 and an outlook on 2020

Location

Event Brüssel

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5 February 2020

### EU power plant emissions in 2019 see record decline

In 2019, the EU electricity sector emitted 12 per cent less CO2 than in the previous year. At the same time, the share of renewables in electricity production...

Format

Press Release

### Share publication

The European power sector in 2019

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