European Electricity Review 2024 - Europe’s electricity transition takes crucial strides forward

The year concluded with the call from COP28 to transition away from fossil fuels, including the EU advocating for the tripling of renewables and doubling of the rate of energy efficiency improvements globally by 2030. [...] 56% of the fall in demand in the same period remains after accounting for the fall in industrial demand and weather impacts, this can be attributed to energy savings and efficiency at least in part. [...] As fossil fuel generation and emissions tumbled to record lows and the share of wind and solar in the electricity mix reached new highs, the challenges, solutions and opportunities of integrating ever-increasing levels of wind and solar rose to the top of the agenda. [...] Due to the higher electricity demand in winter months, the share of electricity generation from wind and solar in winter was slightly lower, but even in the month with the lowest performance (February) it only dropped to 23% from the 26% yearly total. [...] Prior to 2023, the largest relative drop in power sector emissions in the EU came as a result of the demand reduction driven by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, as emissions fell 13% compared to 2019.