For the first time in recorded history, renewable energy sources generated more than half of the European Union’s public electricity in a single six-month period. In the first half of 2024 C.E., renewables accounted for 50 percent of E.U. public electricity generation — a threshold the bloc has never crossed before, according to figures released by the electricity industry association Eurelectric.
At a glance
- EU renewable electricity: Renewables hit exactly 50 percent of E.U. public power generation in the first half of 2024 C.E. — the first time the bloc has surpassed that mark.
- Low-carbon power share: When nuclear is included alongside renewables, 74 percent of E.U. electricity came from low-carbon sources in this period, up from 68 percent in 2023 C.E.
- German energy milestone: In Germany specifically, renewables covered 58 percent of gross electricity consumption and 65 percent of net public grid generation in the same six months.
Why this milestone matters
Crossing the 50 percent threshold is more than a symbolic number. It means that, on average across the E.U., clean energy is now the majority source of electricity — not a supplement to fossil fuels, but the dominant force in the grid.
Kristian Ruby, secretary general of Eurelectric, put it plainly: “The pace of change is impressive. These figures document that the decarbonisation efforts of electricity companies are years ahead of any other sector.” That’s a striking claim in a world where progress on climate often feels incremental. In the electricity sector, at least, Europe appears to be moving faster than nearly anyone expected.
The 74 percent low-carbon share — which adds nuclear generation to the renewables total — represents a significant jump from the 68 percent recorded in 2023 C.E. In energy transitions, six percentage points in a single year is a substantial shift.
Germany’s numbers tell an even stronger story
Germany’s figures are particularly notable given the country’s size and industrial base. According to preliminary data from the German Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW) and the Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW), renewables covered 58 percent of gross electricity consumption in the first six months of 2024 C.E.
Separate figures from the Fraunhofer Institute put the renewable share of Germany’s public net electricity generation even higher — at 65 percent — because that measure focuses exclusively on the public grid rather than electricity generated directly for industrial use. Under that metric, fossil fuel generation fell 15 percent year-over-year, and lignite (brown coal) output dropped 25 percent.
Wind energy led the way, accounting for 34 percent of Germany’s public net electricity generation. Solar contributed another 15 percent. Germany has set a national target of 80 percent renewable electricity in gross consumption by 2030 C.E., and the current trajectory suggests that goal is within reach.
ZSW Managing Director Frithjof Staiß said the record figures showed that an “efficient, reliable, secure and greenhouse gas-neutral power supply” was achievable by 2035 C.E. Both BDEW chair Kerstin Andreae and Staiß called for continued investment in grid infrastructure and power storage to keep pace with the transition.
The part of the picture that complicates the celebration
Not every data point in the Eurelectric report points upward. Electricity demand across the E.U. has remained measurably lower than it was in 2022 C.E. — down 5.1 percent in the first half of 2023 C.E. and still 4.8 percent below that 2022 C.E. baseline in the first half of 2024 C.E.
The causes are mixed: industry relocating outside the E.U., warmer winters reducing heating demand, energy-saving behavior, and slower economic growth. While lower demand does ease pressure on the grid in the short term, Ruby stressed that the E.U. cannot afford to treat reduced consumption as a reason to pull back on energy investment. Electrification of heating, transportation, and industrial processes will likely push demand back up in coming years — and the infrastructure to serve that demand needs to be built now.
Lignite also remains Germany’s second-largest individual power source after wind, at 21 percent of public net generation. The direction is clearly downward, but coal has not left the picture yet.
What the energy transition looks like from here
The E.U.’s milestone arrives at a moment when the International Renewable Energy Agency has been tracking rapid cost declines in wind and solar globally. The economics of clean power have shifted dramatically over the past decade, and Europe’s grid data is now reflecting that shift in real-time generation numbers.
What makes this moment genuinely significant is not just the 50 percent figure itself, but the speed at which it was reached. As recently as 2019 C.E., the European Commission was debating whether 32 percent renewables by 2030 C.E. was an ambitious enough target. The bloc has now blown past that number in its electricity sector alone, years ahead of schedule.
The increasing electrification of sectors that have historically relied on fossil fuels — particularly heating and mobility — will raise electricity demand in the years ahead. But because electric systems lose less energy in conversion than combustion-based ones, total overall energy demand is not expected to rise proportionally. That dynamic gives the clean grid an even larger role to play as the transition deepens.
For now, the number that matters is 50. Europe’s electricity is, for the first time, majority clean. The Eurelectric data suggests the continent’s energy companies are moving faster than its policymakers projected — and faster than most sectors of the economy have managed to move at all. Whether that pace holds, and whether infrastructure investment keeps up, will shape the next chapter of the transition.
Read more
For more on this story, see: Clean Energy Wire
For more from Good News for Humankind, see:
- Renewables now make up at least 49% of global power capacity
- Alzheimer’s risk cut in half by drug in landmark prevention trial
- The Good News for Humankind archive on renewable energy
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