Portugal remains among the main consumers of renewable electricity in the European Union (EU), despite not being able to surpass Sweden, Denmark and Austria which, in 2022, were the largest consumers of this energy.

According to data released by Eurostat, in 2022, the majority of gross electricity consumption in Portugal came from renewable sources, around 61%. An increase when compared to the previous two years, when this consumption represented around 58%.

In Sweden, around 83% of electricity consumption comes from renewable sources, with hydro and wind power being the main drivers. In Denmark, “green” electricity consumption represents around 77% and in Austria, this figure drops to 74.7%. Majority percentages were also recorded in Croatia (55.5%), Latvia (53.3%) and Spain (50.9%).

Like these countries, Finland and Germany — both with 47% — Romania (43%) and Greece (42%) also record “green” electricity consumption levels above the European average. The European statistics office details that this average remained in the order of 37%, between 2020 and 2021, having risen to 41%, in 2022. In total, renewable energy sources registered an increase of 5.7% between 2021 and 2022.

Electricity from renewable sources is well ahead of other sources, such as nuclear (less than 22%), gas (less than 20%) or coal (less than 17%).

Wind energy and hydroelectric energy represented more than two-thirds of the total electricity produced from renewable sources (37.5% and 29.9%, respectively). The remaining one-third of electricity comes from solar energy (18.2%), solid biofuels (6.9%) and other renewable sources (7.5%). Eurostat also indicates that solar energy is the fastest growing source: in 2008, it represented just 1% of electricity consumed in the EU.