Portugal became the fourth EU country with the highest consumption of renewable electricity in 2022.

Portugal became the fourth country in the European Union (EU) with the highest consumption of renewable electricity in 2022 with a share of 61.0%, above the average of 27 (41.2%), Eurostat reported this Wednesday.

According to the European Statistical Office, Sweden (83.0%) was the member state where the majority of electricity consumption came from renewable sources in 2022, followed by Denmark (77.2%), Austria (74.7%) and Portugal. (61.0%).

At the other end of the table, with a smaller share of renewable sources, are Malta (10.1%), Hungary (15.3%), Czech Republic (15.5%) and Luxembourg (15.9%).

In the EU, the share of renewables in electricity consumption increased by 3.4 percentage points from 2021 (37.8%) to 2022 (41.2%).

On average across the 27 EU Member States, the main sources of electricity were wind (37.5%) and hydropower (29.9%), which accounted for two-thirds of the total, followed by solar energy (18.2%), solid biofuels (6.9%) and other sources of electricity. renewable sources (7.5%).

Solar energy, Eurostat highlights, is the source showing the fastest growth, accounting for only 1.0% of total consumption in 2008.

Regarding the total consumption of the three sectors (electricity, air conditioning and transport) in the EU, the share of renewable sources in gross energy consumption increased from 21.9% in 2021 to 23%, with the target for renewable sources being 42%. 5% by 2030.

Considering the share of renewable sources in the three sectors, Portugal is in sixth place with 34.7%, mainly solid biofuels, wind, water and heat pumps.

Sweden leads the table (66.0%), followed by Finland (47.9%) and Latvia (43.3%), while Ireland (13.1%), Malta (13.3%) and Belgium (13.8%).