Statistics Explained

Archive:Electricity generation statistics – first results

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Data extracted in April 2018. Most recent data: Further Eurostat information, Main tables and Database. Planned article update: May 2019.

This article takes a look at the most recent statistics (2017 monthly cumulated data and provisional 2017 annual data as voluntarily supplied by Member States) on the volumes of electricity that have been produced and supplied at the level of the European Union (EU-28), the euro area (EA-19) and at the level of the individual Member States of the EU-28 and of Norway and Turkey. For years before 2017, regular annual data have been used.

As illustrated by Figure 1, the supply of electricity in the EU-28 decreased by 0.7 % in 2017 compared with 2016. Difference between provisional annual data and monthly cumulated data has quite disappeared since Germany, which used to report on a monthly basis electricity generated only in main activity producer plants has started from January 2017 to report also auto-producer plants.

Figure 1: EU-28 Evolution of Electricity supplied, 2000-2017 annual data; 2008-2017 monthly data
(in GWh)
Source: Eurostat (nrg_105a), (nrg_105m)
Table 1: Electricity statistics, 2015-2017
(in GWh)
Source: Eurostat (nrg_105a), (nrg_105m)
Figure 2: EU-28 electricity production by source, 2017
(in %)
Source: Eurostat (nrg_105m)
Figure 3: Breakdown of Electricity Production by source, 2017
(in %)
Source: Eurostat (nrg_105m)

Main statistical findings

Production of electricity

After an increase of 0.9 % in 2016, the volume of produced electricity at EU-28 level decreased in 2017 by 0.8 % compared with the preceding year.

Table 1 shows the production and supply data for EU-28 and euro area (EA-19). Tables A to J (see: Source data for tables, figures and maps on this page) show the production and supply data for all individual EU Member States and for Norway and Turkey, by using monthly cumulated data for 2017 (2015 and 2016 data are annual figures).

Malta (+94.9 %), Latvia (+23.9 %), Estonia (+7.8 %), Austria (+7.0 %) and Czech Republic (+6.0 %) were the Member States that recorded the largest increases in electricity production in 2017. Against this trend, Croatia (-6.0 %), Germany (-5.9 %), Romania (-4.1 %) and Belgium (-2.4 %) decreased the most significantly their electricity production. In Norway, the production decreased by 0.3 % while in Turkey it increased by 8.2 %.

As regards the structure of electricity production in 2017 (Figures 2, 3 and Table 1), the production of conventional thermal electricity decreased by 1.5 % in the EU-28 in 2017 and accounted for 48.3 % of total production, while the production of electricity by nuclear power plants decreased (-1.2 %) and accounted for 25.6 % of the total. The electricity production in the EU-28 by hydro which includes pumped hydro (not necessarily of renewable origin) decreased by 15.4 % and represented 10.3 % of the total production, while the production by wind increased by 19.6 % and represented 11.7 % of the total production. The electricity production by solar increased by 8.1 % and represented 3.9 % of the total production.

As mentioned above, electricity produced by nuclear power plants decreased by 1.2 % between 2016 and 2017. In 2017, the largest share of electricity produced by nuclear in the 14 EU Member States that have nuclear facilities to produce electricity were observed in France (71.5 %), followed by Slovakia (56.6 %), Belgium (49.9 %), Hungary (49.6 %), Sweden (39.6 %), Slovenia (39.1 %), Bulgaria (36.1 %) and Finland (33.2 %). In Germany, where it was decided to close down their nuclear power plants by the year 2022, the share of nuclear is 12.5 % of the total.

Electricity supplied to the market

The volume of electricity that is supplied to the market is defined as the total net volume of produced electricity minus export plus import minus the electricity that is absorbed by pumping (pumped storage). As illustrated in Figure 1, the supply of electricity in the EU-28 decreased by 0.7 % in 2017 compared with 2016. When looking at supply statistics at national level, the most important increases were observed in Slovenia (+9.9 %), Poland (+8.2 %), Malta (+5.8 %), Latvia (+4.6 %), Austria (+4.3 %) and Czech Republic (+4 %). In Norway, the supply increased by 0.9 % and in Turkey it increased by 6.0 %. The largest decreases in supply figures were observed in Germany (-7.0 %), the United Kingdom (-2.8 %), Greece (-2.6 %) and Belgium (-2.4 %).

In 2017, the aggregated EU-28 imports of electricity increased by 0.3 % and exports decreased by 0.6 %.

See also

Further Eurostat information

Publications

Main tables

Energy Statistics - main indicators (t_nrg_indic)
Market share of the largest generator in the electricity market (ten00119)
Energy Statistics - quantities (t_nrg_quant)
Total gross electricity generation (ten00087)
Electricity consumption by industry, transport activities and households/services (ten00094)
Energy Statistics - prices (t_nrg_price)
Electricity prices by type of user (ten00117)

Database

Energy statistics - quantities, annual data (nrg_quanta)
Supply, transformation and consumption of electricity - annual data (nrg_105a)
Imports - electricity - annual data (nrg_125a)
Exports - electricity - annual data (nrg_135a)
Energy statistics - quantities, monthly data (nrg_quantm)
Supply of electricity - monthly data (nrg_105m)
Imports - electricity - monthly data (nrg_125m)
Exports - electricity - monthly data (nrg_135m)
Energy statistics - infrastructure (nrg_11)
Infrastructure - electricity - annual data (nrg_113a)
Energy statistics - market structure indicators - natural gas and electricity (nrg_market)
Market share of the largest generator in the electricity market - annual data (nrg_ind_331a)

Dedicated section

Source data for tables, figures and maps on this page (MS Excel)

Methodology / Metadata

Other information

External links

Notes