Europe has weathered a supply crisis in its power sector for this winter thanks to record growth in renewables generation, think tank Ember said in its annual European Electricity Review.

Wind and solar generated more than one-fifth of the European Union's electricity in 2022, Ember said in the Jan. 31 report, helping offset low levels of hydropower and nuclear generation.

Droughts in Southern Europe and problems with Electricité de France SA's nuclear fleet in France last year sent hydro and nuclear to their lowest levels in at least two decades, with the generation shortfall exacerbated by Russian gas supply cuts after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Solar generation rose the most of any source, growing by 39 TWh, or 24%, compared to the previous year, shrinking the power generation deficit. Higher solar generation helped avoid €10 billion in gas costs, Ember calculated.

A notable frontrunner was the Netherlands, which generated 14% of its electricity from solar during the year, surpassing Spain.

At the same time, overall power demand declined substantially in 2022 thanks to mild weather, high prices and regulatory intervention. In the last quarter of the year, power consumption was 8% lower than in the same quarter in 2021.

Coal's share in power generation increased by 1.5 percentage points to 16%.

Germany, for instance, allowed the return of over 6 GW of coal power plants from standby as key supplier Russia stopped delivering gas. These plants did not run at full capacity, however, and coal generation was ultimately lower in the fourth quarter of 2022 than it was in the same quarter a year prior.

Coal imports into Europe rose during 2022, but two-thirds of this coal remains unused, Ember said.

The think tank attributed the lack of a surge in winter coal-burning to falling demand, with households and industry continuing to keep usage low.

"Perhaps most encouragingly, countries remain as committed to phasing out coal as they were before the crisis," Ember said.

Worst of crisis avoided

All the while, renewables installations continued at speed, with 41 GW of solar installed in the EU in 2022, a nearly 50% jump year over year.

Aside from high-level policy momentum for the acceleration of renewables, Ember also saw a "quiet revolution" as households invested massively in new rooftop solar. Europeans added 25 GW of solar on their roofs in 2022, 8 GW more than the preview year.

In 2023, industry group SolarPower Europe expects this growth to accelerate further.

Ember said last year's added pressures of low hydro and nuclear power generation will not be repeated this year, with both technologies set to recover in key market France.

As a result, Ember estimates that fossil generation, both coal and gas, could drop by 20% in 2023.

"Europe has avoided the worst of the energy crisis," Dave Jones, Ember's head of data insights, said in a statement. "The shocks of 2022 only caused a minor ripple in coal power and a huge wave of support for renewables. Any fears of a coal rebound are now dead."

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