More than half of the European Union's (EU) electricity in the second quarter of 2025 was generated from renewable sources, with solar energy leading the way, writes UNN with reference to Electrek.
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According to new Eurostat data, in the second quarter of 2025, renewable energy sources generated 54% of the EU's net electricity, up from 52.7% year-on-year. The growth was mainly driven by solar energy, which produced 122,317 gigawatt-hours (GWh) - almost 20% of the total electricity production.
June 2025 was a landmark month: for the first time, solar energy became the largest source of electricity in the EU. That month, it provided 22% of all electricity, surpassing nuclear (21.6%), wind (15.8%), hydropower (14.1%), and natural gas (13.8%).
Some countries are already almost 100% reliant on renewable energy. Denmark led the way with an impressive 94.7% share of renewables in net electricity generation, followed by Latvia (93.4%), Austria (91.8%), Croatia (89.5%), and Portugal (85.6%). At the other end of the spectrum, Slovakia (19.9%), Malta (21.2%), and the Czech Republic (22.1%) lagged behind.
Overall, in 15 EU countries, the share of renewable generation increased compared to last year. The largest increases, mainly due to the growth of solar energy, were recorded in Luxembourg (+13.5 percentage points) and Belgium (+9.1 percentage points).
In the EU, solar energy accounted for 36.8% of total renewable energy production, followed by wind energy - 29.5%, hydropower - 26%, biomass - 7.3%, and geothermal energy - 0.4%.
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