For the second year running renewables produced more power in Europe than fossil fuels in both the first and second quarters of the year. This came despite a 3 percent drop in levels of renewable generation to the second quarter of 2019 compared to the same quarter in 2018. This came as overall levels of generation also fell over the same period with this meaning that the drop in renewable generation was not significant, according to British provider of energy market intelligence EnAppSys Ltd. The share of generation from fossil fuels, renewables and nuclear have largely remained static since 2017, with renewables providing more than fossil fuels in the first half of the year and with this switching in the second half the year.

Total European power generation in Q2 was 624 TWh. Renewables generated 245.9 TWh (7 percent less than in Q1), fossil fueled generators produced 202.7 TWh (minus 13 percent). Nuclear plants generated 176.3 TWh (minus 14 percent). »On a simplified basis 39 percent of generation came from renewables, 32 percent from fossil fuels and 28 percent from nuclear plants,« says the consultancy.

The largest share of renewable generation came from hydro plants (109.2 TWh; 44.4 percent of all renewable generation), the second largest source of renewable generation were wind farms (71.6 TWh; 29.1 percent). Solar farms produced 40.5 TWh and 16.5 percent of the total. These levels were down from the record high for a quarter achieved in Q2 2018, »with solar generation levels starting to flatten out across European markets.« The remainder of renewable generation came from biomass and waste.

In Detail, in the second quarter nuclear plants produced 28.2 percent of generation, hydro 17.5 percent, gas 17.0 percent, coal / lignite 14.7 percent, wind 11.5 percent, solar 6.5 percent, biomass 3.4 percent, oil 0.6 percent, waste 0.5 percent and peat 0.1 percent, according to the figures of the company’s » European Electricity Fuel Mix Summary« April to June 2019.

EnAppSys, founded in 2003, provides services to companies in the energy and power markets, specifically by providing data, information and consultancy services.

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