Milestone for European solar: in June it was the leading source of electricity

European Union countries had a combined 54% share of electricity from renewable energy sources in total net electricity generation in the second quarter of this year. Compared with the same period in 2024, this represents an increase of 1.7 percentage points (p.p.). This growth was driven mainly by solar generation, which accounted for a 20% share of net electricity generation during the period and, in June, became the EU's largest source of electricity for the first time in history. This was reported by EU statistical office Eurostat.

June 2025 was the first month in history in which solar power plants generated the most electricity among individual sources in EU countries. Their share of net electricity generation reached 22%, surpassing nuclear power plants (21.6%), wind power plants (15.8%), hydropower plants (14.1%) and other sources. Total electricity generation from solar power plants in EU countries in the first quarter amounted to 122 TWh, and their share of net electricity generation during the period reached nearly 20%.

"In 15 EU countries, the share of renewables in net electricity generation increased year on year in the second quarter of 2025. The largest year-on-year increases were recorded in Luxembourg (+13.5 p.p.) and Belgium (+9.1 p.p.), in both cases due to growth in solar generation," Eurostat said.

Denmark traditionally had the largest share of renewables in net electricity generation in the second quarter, at nearly 95%. It was followed by Latvia (93.4%), Austria (91.8%), Croatia (89.5%) and Portugal (85.6%). By contrast, the lowest shares were recorded in Slovakia (19.9%), Malta (21.2%) and the Czech Republic (22.1%).

Improvement after a weaker first quarter

The second quarter of this year was substantially better for renewable electricity generation than the first quarter. In the first quarter, renewables accounted for 42.5% of net electricity generation, representing a year-on-year decline of 4.3 p.p.

"The significant increase in electricity generation from solar power plants (from 40.9 TWh in the first quarter of 2024 to 55 TWh in the first quarter of 2025) was not sufficient to offset the decline in generation from hydropower and wind power plants (from 260.5 TWh to 218.5 TWh over the same period)," Eurostat said in June.

Lower renewable electricity generation in the first quarter led to an increase in CO2 emissions in Europe, as the decline in wind and hydropower generation was replaced mainly by generation from fossil fuel-fired power plants. Electricity generation from natural gas rose year on year by 8% in the EU in the first quarter, while the increase in coal-fired power generation was two percentage points lower.

Greenhouse gas emissions in EU countries therefore rose year on year by 3.4% in the first quarter of this year to 900 million tonnes. Increases were recorded in 20 member states, while the remaining 7 member states recorded declines.