Europe’s Electricity Demand Roars Back, Driving Up Coal Generation

The report finds that EU electricity demand nearly returned to 2019 levels by August 2020, leading to a surge in coal generation. This trend was exacerbated by record low nuclear output in France, which created a supply gap that wind and solar growth could not fully fill, resulting in coal generation reaching its highest level since March 2020.

• Electricity demand in the EU-27 recovered significantly by August 2020, falling only 2% below the previous year's level, compared to a 13% drop in April. Specific countries saw demand increases, including Slovakia (up 6%) and the Netherlands (up 4%), while France and Poland were down by 1% and Germany remained down by 3%.
• A shortfall in French nuclear output, which remained 5TWh lower than August 2019, created a supply gap that was filled by fossil generation. Growth in wind and solar during the pandemic was insufficient to offset this nuclear decline.
• EU-27 coal generation rose to 27TWh in August 2020, the highest level since March, and was only 2TWh lower than August 2019. Germany drove this increase, with generation rising from 8TWh in July to 10TWh in August, causing Germany to overtake Poland as the EU's largest coal generator for the first time since February.

APA

Graham, E. (2020). Europe’s Electricity Demand Roars Back, Driving Up Coal Generation. Ember. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2020/03/Europes-Electricity-Demand-Roars-Back-_-Ember-Sept-2020.pdf

Chicago

Graham, Euan. Europe’s Electricity Demand Roars Back, Driving Up Coal Generation. Ember, 2020. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2020/03/Europes-Electricity-Demand-Roars-Back-_-Ember-Sept-2020.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Graham |first1=Euan |title=Europe’s Electricity Demand Roars Back, Driving Up Coal Generation |publisher=Ember |date=11 September 2020 |url=https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2020/03/Europes-Electricity-Demand-Roars-Back-_-Ember-Sept-2020.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{graham2020europes, author = {Graham, Euan}, title = {{Europe’s Electricity Demand Roars Back, Driving Up Coal Generation}}, institution = {Ember}, year = {2020}, month = sep, url = {https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2020/03/Europes-Electricity-Demand-Roars-Back-_-Ember-Sept-2020.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }