European Electricity Review 2022

The European Electricity Review 2022 identifies a 'paradigm shift' in the EU power sector where soaring gas prices in 2021 led new renewable energy to replace fossil gas instead of coal. While wind and solar reached record generation of 547 TWh in 2021, overall power sector emissions declined at less than half the rate required to meet 1.5°C targets. The report highlights that coal phase-outs are stalling in some regions, such as Poland, and that the structural decline of nuclear power is further slowing decarbonization by forcing renewables to replace lost nuclear capacity rather than fossil fuels.

• A 'paradigm shift' occurred in 2021 as high fossil gas prices caused new renewable energy to replace gas rather than coal. Between 2011 and 2019, over 80% of new renewables replaced coal, but since 2019, 52% of new renewable generation replaced gas and a third replaced nuclear, while only a sixth replaced coal.
• EU power sector emissions are not declining fast enough to align with 1.5°C goals, which require zero emissions by 2035 for advanced economies. Since 2019, emissions have declined at an average annual rate of 2.5%, which is less than half of the 6% annual decline required.
• Wind and solar power reached a record 547 TWh in 2021, marking the first time they generated more electricity than fossil gas (524 TWh). Solar power grew significantly, producing 27% more power in 2021 than in 2019, with generation doubling in Spain and the Netherlands.
• The decline of coal is uneven across the EU and primarily driven by plant closures. While Spain's coal output almost halved following the closure of 6.5GW of capacity, Poland's coal power output increased by 7% since 2019.
• The structural decline of nuclear power is hindering decarbonization because a significant portion of renewable growth is used to fill the gap left by closing nuclear plants. In the last decade, 105 TWh of nuclear output was lost, meaning nearly a third of wind and solar growth replaced nuclear instead of fossil fuels.
• The 2021 gas crisis, characterized by a 585% increase in TTF day-ahead prices, made fossil gas the most expensive generation method, exceeding the cost of hard coal and lignite by mid-2021.

APA

Moore, C., Brown, S., MacDonald, P., Ewen, M., & Broadbent, H. (2022). European Electricity Review 2022. Ember. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2022/02/Report-EER.pdf

Chicago

Moore, Charles, Sarah Brown, Phil MacDonald, Matt Ewen, and Hannah Broadbent. European Electricity Review 2022. Ember, 2022. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2022/02/Report-EER.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Moore |first1=Charles |last2=Brown |first2=Sarah |last3=MacDonald |first3=Phil |last4=Ewen |first4=Matt |last5=Broadbent |first5=Hannah |title=European Electricity Review 2022 |publisher=Ember |date=February 2022 |url=https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2022/02/Report-EER.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{moore2022european, author = {Moore, Charles and Brown, Sarah and MacDonald, Phil and Ewen, Matt and Broadbent, Hannah}, title = {{European Electricity Review 2022}}, institution = {Ember}, year = {2022}, month = feb, url = {https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2022/02/Report-EER.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }