Solar and wind will soon supply more energy in the EU than Russia
Published: Tuesday, Jan 16th 2024, 12:50
Retour au fil d'actualité
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen sees considerable progress in decoupling the European energy system from Russian gas supplies. Last year, the EU generated more electricity from wind and solar energy than from gas for the first time, she said Tuesday at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos. And this year, for the first time, more energy will be sourced from wind power and photovoltaics than from Russia. "That is good news," said von der Leyen.
She also pointed out that, according to the latest figures from the International Energy Agency (IEA), the growth in renewable energy capacity in the European Union will reach another record level in 2023. At the same time, the efficiency of energy consumption has increased by almost five percent.
In particular, von der Leyen cited the efforts to move away from dependence on Russia as the background to the developments. "In 2021, before the Russian attack on Ukraine, one in five units of energy consumed in the European Union came from Russia," she said. Last year, by contrast, only one in twenty units of energy consumed in the European Union came from Russia. Europe had taken its energy policy destiny back into its own hands and turned a challenge from Russian President Vladimir Putin into a great new opportunity.
The crisis triggered by the war in Ukraine has slowed the momentum of the European economy, but fears of an economic collapse have proven unfounded, explained von der Leyen. Energy prices had fallen recently and remained low even during the recent cold snap at the beginning of January. At the same time, gas storage facilities are still well stocked. "Europe has made real progress in improving the resilience of its energy system," said von der Leyen.
©Keystone/SDA
French 
English 
German 
Spanish 
Arabic