After a long dip over the COVID19 lockdown months, power demand has returned to 2019 levels, in Europe. But that power is not being met by the same mix of fuels as it was previously; coal and gas have taken a hit, and zero carbon sources like wind, solar, hydro, nuclear and a range of others have increased their share.
This is revealed in a new report by Ember Climate, available here. It’s going to be a while before we know the ‘new normal’ in Europe’s grid mix, but this is a good sign of lasting changes.
This first graph above illustrate the demand changes, with a slight rebound in recent months. But the important ones are below, which shows firstly the sharp rebound in zero carbon sources and then the fall in fossil fuel sources.
