The growth of renewables has offset Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with an increase in wind and solar generation since the war began creating a €12 bn savings on gas for the EU.

In the year following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the EU has faced enormous pressure to mitigate energy security risks and protect itself against the soaring costs of fossil fuel imports as gas prices skyrocketed to an unprecedented high of €313 per MWh. This caused the cost of producing power from gas to reach over €650 per MWh. With coal prices also surging, the increased cost of fossil fuels pushed up electricity prices and triggered escalating inflation and a cost-of-living crisis across Europe.

However, Analysis from Ember shows that favourable weather conditions and concerted efforts to increase renewable sources from wind and solar have produced a record level of EU electricity since the start of the war. Their combined generation was 546TWh, an increase of 50TWh compared with the same period in 2021-22.

This 50TWh annual increase in wind and solar alone reduced the amount of gas required for electricity generation by 90TWh and avoided gas costs of €12bn, based on the average TTF day ahead price for the period. Without the total 546TWh of wind and solar generation, the EU could have required an additional 993TWh of gas to meet electricity demand since the start of the war. This equates to gas costs of €135bn.

In total, wind and solar have accounted for 23 per cent of total EU generation since the war began, for the first time overtaking the share of gas power, which provided 19 per cent.

"Russia’s invasion of Ukraine shocked Europe into action. Suddenly, gaping vulnerabilities due to fossil fuel dependence became a stark reality. The last year has been a scramble to address these risks through an accelerated transition to a cleaner, more secure power system. At the year marker of Russia’s devastating war in Ukraine, it remains critical that the EU rapidly expands solar and wind to attain permanent energy independence,” said Sarah Brown senior analyst at Ember.

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