In its 2026 report on the European electricity markets that was published on 22 January, specialist think tank Ember highlights the progress made by wind energy and solar energy—which were able, in 2025, to generate 30% of the EU’s electricity, surpassing fossil fuels’ share [of production] (29%) for the first time.
This progress has been marked by solar energy’s meteoric growth over the past few years, which has now reached 13% of the EU’s electricity generation. In Hungary, Cyprus, Greece, Spain, and the Netherlands, solar energy even represented over one-fifth of electricity generation.
Nevertheless, there was an 8% increase in gas-fired electricity generation compared to 2024, mainly due to the decrease in hydroelectric generation.
This situation resulted in the EU power sector’s gas import bill going up to €32 billion. That is 16% higher than the previous year.
A total of 21 EU countries were affected by the annual increase in wholesale electricity prices, which was due to price spikes observed during peak gas-usage hours.
The report also highlights that coal has an increasingly marginal share of electricity generation and that battery deployment accelerated with the announcement of large-scale projects in the EU.
Beatrice Petrovich, a senior analyst at Ember, believes that the next challenges will consist in “put[ting] a serious dent in the EU’s reliance on expensive, imported gas”.
She declares, “By investing across the power system to harness the potential of batteries, grids, and electrified tech, the EU can make use of homegrown renewable power to stabilise prices and insure against energy blackmail.”
To see the report: https://aeur.eu/f/kcb (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)