Natural gas main source in EU generation mix in 2016

It emerged from a report from wind association Wind Europe, which also showed that share of wind power in total installed power capacity increased from 6% in 2005 to 16.7% in 2016, overtaking coal as the second largest form of power generation capacity in the EU and remaining the first among renewables.

Over the same period renewables increased their share from 24% of total power capacity in 2005 to 46% in 2016.

EU adds 24.5 GW new generation capacity in 2016

In 2016 24.5 GW of new gross power generation capacity were installed in the EU, 6.3 GW less than in 2015, Wind Europe data showed.

Wind power was the energy technology with the highest capacity installations in 2016, adding 12.5 GW which accounted for 51% of all new installations.

Solar PV came second with 6.7 GW (27%) and natural gas followed with 3.1 GW (13%). Biomass installed 1.1 GW (4% of total installations), hydro 657 MW (3%), coal 243 MW (1%), and waste 154 MW (0.6%).

During 2016, EU Member States decommissioned 7.5 GW of coal capacity, 2.3 GW of natural gas capacity, and 2.2 GW of fuel oil capacity, Wind Europe said.