Germany led Europe in renewable energy consumption, with 2.78 exajoules consumed in 2023, up from 2.03 exajoules in 2015. France and Norway followed as the second and third largest consumers, highlighting a broader trend of increased renewable energy use across the continent. Renewable energy production and capacity Germany's dominance in renewable energy consumption is mirrored in its production and capacity figures. In 2023, Germany's renewable energy production amounted to approximately 272 terawatt-hours, far surpassing other European nations. The country also boasted the largest installed renewable energy capacity in Europe, with almost 167 gigawatts as of 2023. This substantial capacity allows Germany to meet its high renewable energy consumption needs and contributes to its leadership in the sector. European renewable energy landscape The broader European renewable energy landscape shows a promising growth. Total renewable energy consumption in Europe reached about 18 exajoules in 2023, marking a nine percent increase from the previous year. Wind power has emerged as the primary renewable source in the European Union's electricity mix since 2017, accounting for over 39 percent of the EU's renewable mix in 2023.

As of February 2025, several countries across the European Union had established ambitious renewable power targets. Estonia and Sweden plan to achieve a 100 percent renewable electricity generation by 2030. In contrast, Poland's renewable targets for that year were just over 50 percent. According to the EU Renewable Energy Directive, countries in the European Union must reach a share of at least 42.5 percent of renewables in their total energy consumption, although the directive encourages to aim for 45 percent. Renewable energy pipeline in Europe The further deployment of renewable technologies in the region is essential to achieve these targets. As of February 2025, prospective wind energy projects in Europe’s renewable pipeline amounted to more than 645 gigawatts, although from this, only 22 megawatts were already in the construction stage. Northern Europe accounted for most of the wind energy planned capacity in the region. Regarding solar, Europe had a utility-scale prospective capacity of 255 gigawatts, with Southern Europe accounting for most of planned installations.
Europe’s wind and solar outlook In the next years, wind and solar installations are forecast to more than double in the European Union. It is estimated that in 2030, the region’s solar capacity will amount to some 625 gigawatts, growing from the 257 gigawatts operating at the end of 2023. For wind, forecasts point to an installed capacity of roughly 400 gigawatts by 2030. Approximately 20 percent of this capacity will correspond to offshore installations.

This table expresses the use of renewable energy as gross final consumption of energy. Figures are presented in an absolute way, as well as related to the total energy use in the Netherlands. The total gross final energy consumption in the Netherlands (the denominator used to calculate the percentage of renewable energy per ‘Energy sources and techniques’) can be found in the table as ‘Total, including non-renewables’ and Energy application ‘Total’. The gross final energy consumption for the energy applications ‘Electricity’ and ‘Heat’ are also available. With these figures the percentages of the different energy sources and applications can be calculated; these values are not available in this table. The gross final energy consumption for ‘Transport’ is not available because of the complexity to calculate this. More information on this can be found in the yearly publication ‘Hernieuwbare energie in Nederland’.

Renewable energy is energy from wind, hydro power, the sun, the earth, heat from outdoor air and biomass. This is energy from natural processes that is replenished constantly.

The figures are broken down into energy source/technique and into energy application (electricity, heat and transport).

This table focuses on the share of renewable energy according to the EU Renewable Energy Directive. Under this directive, countries can apply an administrative transfer by purchasing renewable energy from countries that have consumed more renewable energy than the agreed target. For 2020, the Netherlands has implemented such a transfer by purchasing renewable energy from Denmark. This transfer has been made visible in this table as a separate energy source/technique and two totals are included; a total with statistical transfer and a total without statistical transfer.

Figures for 2020 and before were calculated based on RED I; in accordance with Eurostat these figures will not be modified anymore. Inconsistencies with other tables undergoing updates may occur.

Data available from: 1990

Status of the figures: This table contains definite figures up to and including 2022 and figures of 2023 are revised provisional figures.

Changes as of January 2025 Renewable cooling has been added as Energy source and technique from 2021 onwards, in accordance with RED II. Figures for 2020 and earlier follow RED I definitions, renewable cooling isn’t a part of these definitions.
The energy application “Heat” has been renamed to “Heating and cooling”, in accordance with RED II definitions. RED II is the current Renewable Energy Directive which entered into force in 2021

Changes as of November 15th 2024 Figures for 2021-2023 have been adjusted. 2022 is now definitive, 2023 stays revised provisional. Because of new insights for windmills regarding own electricity use and capacity, figures on 2021 have been revised.

Changes as of March 2024: Figures of the total energy applications of biogas, co-digestion of manure and other biogas have been restored for 2021 and 2022. The final energy consumption of non-compliant biogas (according to RED II) was wrongly included in the total final consumption of these types of biogas. Figures of total biogas, total biomass and total renewable energy were not influenced by this and therefore not adjusted.

When will new figures be published? Provisional figures on the gross final consumption of renewable energy in broad outlines for the previous year are published each year in June. Revised provisional figures for the previous year appear each year in June.

In November all figures on the consumption of renewable energy in the previous year will be published. These figures remain revised provisional, definite figures appear in November two years after the reporting year. Most important (expected) changes between revised provisional figures in November and definite figures a year later are the figures on solar photovoltaic energy. The figures on the share of total energy consumption in the Netherlands could also still be changed by the availability of adjusted figures on total energy consumption.

The overall share of renewables in the European Union's final energy consumption reached 24.6 percent in 2023. Sweden was the country with the largest share of renewables with over 66 percent of energy consumption covered by renewables that year. According to the 2030 renewable energy targets of the region, EU member states must reach a renewable consumption share of at least 42.5 percent by 2030.

In 2023, Germany accounted for the largest production of renewable energy in Europe, with approximately 274 terawatt-hours of energy generated. Norway was the second-largest producer, with some 151 terawatt-hours less than Germany. In both countries, renewable energy production increased in 2023 compared to 2023.Germany and the Norway were also among the largest renewable energy consumers in Europe in 2023, while the largest renewable energy capacity was installed in Germany.

The indicator is calculated as required by Directive 2009/28/EC on the promotion of energy from renewable energy sources. The data are collected from EU Member States national renewable energy action plans (NREAPs) as an obligation of Article 4 of the Directive 2009/28/EC. The share of renewable energy in gross final energy consumption is calculated for overall res share.

Sector coverage: The indicator covers overall res share (%)

This table contains figures on the gross final consumption (absolute and relative) of renewable energy. Renewable energy is energy from wind, hydropower, sun, soil, outdoor air heat and biomass. It is energy from natural processes that is constantly replenished. The data can be broken down by energy source/technology and by application (electricity, heat and transport).

The gross final consumption of renewable energy as a percentage of total gross final consumption is used as a target for European and national renewable energy policies. It has been agreed that the Dutch share of renewable energy, in terms of gross final consumption, should be equal to 14 percent by 2020.

This table focuses on the share of renewable energy according to the EU Renewable Energy Directive. Under this Directive, countries can apply an administrative transfer by purchasing renewable energy from countries that have consumed more renewable energy than the agreed target. For 2020, the Netherlands has applied such a thought by buying renewable energy from Denmark. This transmission has been made visible in this table as a separate energy source/technique and two totals are included; a total with and a total without statistical transmission.

Data available from: 1990

Status of the figures: The figures in this table are final until 2019, further provisional for the reporting year 2020 and 2021.

Changes as of June 2022: Further preliminary figures for 2021 added. As of reporting year 2021, new sustainability criteria for solid and gaseous biomass consumed in installations above a certain power limit apply under the EU Renewable Energy Directive (2018). Whether the biomass consumed in the Netherlands meets these new sustainability criteria is currently unclear. Therefore, for cases where this ambiguity applies, a point ‘.’ is displayed.

Changes as of 12 January 2022: The statistical transfer and the totals with and without statistical transfer have been added to the table as a separate source/technique.

Amendments as of 10 December 2021: Final figures for 2019 and further preliminary figures for 2020 have been added. The figures for the share of renewable energy from 2015 to 2018 have been revised due to an adjustment of the denominator as a result of a revision in the Energy Balance, which shifts the energy consumption of the blast furnaces from final energy consumption to own consumption. As a result, the denominator decreases about 10 PJ, increasing the share of renewable energy for those years between 0.2 and 1.1 %.

When will there be new figures: Preliminary figures on gross final consumption of renewable energy on main lines for the previous year appear each year in May. Further preliminary figures for the previous year appear each year in June.

In December, all renewable energy consumption figures will be published in the previous year. These figures will be given final status in December, but the figures on the share of the total energy consumption of the Netherlands can still be changed due to the availability of adjusted figures on total energy consumption.

This horizontal bar chart displays renewable energy consumption (% of total final energy consumption) by political leader using the aggregation average and is filtered where the continent is Europe. The data is about countries.

Renewable energy consumption in the European Union amounted to 12.4 exajoules in 2023, an increase of roughly 11 percent in comparison to the previous year. Between 1998 and 2023, renewables consumption in the region grew by eight exajoules, peaking in the latter year.

The indicator measures the share of renewable energy consumption in gross final energy consumption according to the Renewable Energy Directive. The gross final energy consumption is the energy used by end-consumers (final energy consumption) plus grid losses and self-consumption of power plants.

This bar chart displays renewable energy consumption (% of total final energy consumption) by ISO 3 country code using the aggregation average and is filtered where the continent is Europe. The data is about countries per year.

This bar chart displays renewable energy consumption (% of total final energy consumption) by political leader using the aggregation average. The data is from the countries entity and is filtered where the continent is Europe.

The product has been discontinued since: 08 Feb 2018.

This indicator is calculated on the basis of data covered by Regulation (EC) No 1099/2008 on energy statistics. Reporting countries provide additional information on renewable source not covered by the Regulation. The contribution of compliant biofuels is included only as of year 2011 and only for countries that confirmed full compliance with Article 17 “Sustainability criteria for biofuels and bioliquids” and Article 18 “Verification of compliance with the sustainability criteria for biofuels and bioliquids” of Directive 2009/28/EC – only quantities of biofuels that are compliant (sustainable) are counted towards the indicator. In period 2004-2010 all biofuels are counted towards the numerator of the share of renewable energy in fuel consumption of transport. All calculation provisions of Article 3(4) apply as well. More information about the renewable energy shares calculation methodology can be found on the Eurostat website. More information on renewable energies can be found on the DG Energy website.

This bar chart displays renewable energy consumption (% of total final energy consumption) by continent and is filtered where the region is Western Europe. The data is about countries per year.

This bar chart displays renewable energy consumption (% of total final energy consumption) by capital city using the aggregation average and is filtered where the continent is Europe. The data is about countries per year.

Dataset associated with the paper 'Towards renewable electricity in Europe: Revisiting the determinants of renewable electricity in the European Union' submitted to Renewable Energy. It includes price, policy, and control variables for electricity and other energy sources for 29 countries in Europe over the period 2000-2016.

Oil was the most commonly used fuel in the European Union in 2023, accounting for 21.5 exajoules of primary energy consumption. In comparison, renewable energy sources accounted for 9.4 exajoules of energy consumption that year.

This dataset is about countries in Europe per year, featuring 4 columns: country, date, ISO 2 country code, and renewable energy consumption. The preview is ordered by date (descending).

This scatter chart displays renewable energy consumption (% of total final energy consumption) against press freedom and is filtered where the continent is Europe. The data is about countries.

The Renewable Energy Directive 2009/28/EC and its recast 2018/2001/EU commit the EU to achieving a 20 % share of renewable energy sources (RES) in its gross final energy consumption by 2020, and 32 % by 2030. They also set a target of 10 % share of renewable energy in transport by 2020, and 14% by 2030. Since early access to the most recent information on the growth of RES is relevant for all stakeholders, the EEA and its European Topic Centre for Climate Change Mitigation and Energy (ETC/CME) produce each year a set of early estimates concerning the RES shares achieved by the countries and the EU as a whole in the previous year. The current data set concerns the EEA 2020 RES share proxies. The cut-off date for most data sources incorporated in the calculation of the approximated RES shares is 31 July of the publication year.