According to Eurostat, the share of solar power in the total volume of the EU’s electricity production in 2022 was 210,249 GWh compared to 205,693 GWh for hard coal. Poland and the Czech Republic are the only hard coal producers in the EU. In 2022, the Russian Federation remained the largest supplier of hard coal in the EU, with a share of 24%, ahead of the US (18%) and Australia (17%). However, after the EU ban on the import of coal from Russia came into effect in August 2022 due to its war against Ukraine, imports from Russia decreased to 27 million tonnes. This is 45% less than in 2021. In 2023, EU coal production and consumption fell to their lowest levels on record, reaching 274 million tonnes (-22% vs. 2022) and 351 million tonnes (-23%) respectively. Last year, Germany (37%) and Poland (27%) were the main coal consumers in the EU, accounting for almost 66% of the bloc’s consumption.
Solar energy in the EU has overtaken hard coal as a source of electricity for the first time.
