(Finance) – In the 2022, For the first time in the EU, coal has been overtaken by solar energy in electricity production. The percentage of solar energy in total electricity production of the EU was 210,249 GWh compared to 205,693 GWh for coal.
This is what emerges from the Eurostat datathe EU Statistical Office, which highlights that the Poland and the Czech Republic I am the only two remaining hard coal producers in the EUand only Poland uses it as the main source for electricity generation. Lignite, a low-energy category of coal, is used in electricity generation from 9 EU countries and was the source of 241,572 GWh of electricity.
Hard coal imports increased in 2022, but not from Russia
On the other hand, the coal import dependency rate has reached its highest point in 2022reaching 74.4%. This strong increase of 15 percentage points compared to 2021 can be explained by the build-up of coal stocks by EU countries. Unlike previous years, where EU countries mostly reported stockpile draws, in 2022 they added to their stocks 9 million tons of fossil carbonand, the first stock accumulated since 2019 and the highest since 2008. Despite its peak in 2022, the import dependence rate of hard coal remains lower than those of oil and natural gas (both above 97%).
In 2022, Russia remained the largest supplier of hard coal to the EU with 24%ahead of the United States (18%) and Australia (17%). However, following the entry into force of the EU ban on hard coal imports from Russia in August 2022 due to the war of aggression against Ukraine, the imports from Russia fell to 27 million tons in 2022. This equates to a 45% decrease compared to 2021.
Coal production and consumption in the EU at its lowest level in 2023
Preliminary monthly data suggest that In 2023, EU coal production and consumption fell to their lowest levels on record, reaching respectively 274 million tonnes (-22% compared to the previous year) and 351 million tonnes (-23%). With a decrease of over 100 million tonnes in coal consumption, this appears to be one of the largest annual decreases ever observed for the fuel in the EU. In 2023, Germany (37%) and Poland (27%) were the main consumers of coal in the EU, absorbing almost two-thirds of it.
(Photo: Zbynek Burival on Unsplash)