Renewables rise and Russian gas declines, says EC report

The European Commission on Wednesday released the State of the Energy Union Report 2024, which notes that renewable sources accounted for half of the EU's electricity generation in the first half of the year.

With regard to the progress on renewables, the Commission also mentions that wind power overtook gas to become the EU's second-largest source of electricity after nuclear. The report cites indications from Ember that renewables reached 50% in electricity generation, and that wind and solar produced more electricity than all fossil fuels combined.

The report also says that the share of Russian gas in EU imports fell from 45% in 2021 to 18% by June 2024, and that the Bloc also reached its 90% winter gas storage target on August 19, ahead of the November 1 deadline.

Kadri Simson, Commissioner for Energy, further said in remarks on the report that national Recovery and Resilience Plans have helped green investments reach a record level. “By mid-June this year, out of the EUR 240 billion disbursed as part of National Recovery and Resilience Plans, EUR 184 billion have been allocated to energy related reforms and investments,” she said.

The report urges member states to submit their final updated National Energy and Climate Plans as soon as possible, to ensure collective accomplishment of the 2030 energy and climate targets. “To date, we have only received 10 final plans. And we are now way past the deadline,” Simson said.

Challenges that need to be addressed include high energy prices, which affect Europe's competitiveness.

“Energy prices still remain too high as the Letta and Draghi reports recalled,” Simson said, adding that accelerating renewables will be key.

“We have done a lot in this mandate to bring down prices from the peak in 2022, but we need now to address structural issues. I believe that the main route is to further increase the pace of deployment of renewables. We see the first signs in 2024 that the pace of renewables deployment is not increasing as fast as it should. We need another strong push to arrive at 42.5% as agreed, by 2030,” she said.

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