The EU’s renewables capacity is set to soar in the coming years. Data shows the bloc’s pipeline of solar and wind is 1.2 times greater than existing capacity.

Energy Monitor looked at all existing solar and wind plants in the 27 EU states recorded in GlobalData’s power plants database. These were compared with the plants that are either planned or under construction.

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Solar PV panels in Provence, south-east France. (Photo by Gerard Julien/AFP via Getty Images)

The results reveal that Spain has the largest renewables pipeline if solar (51,000MW) and wind (29,000MW) capacity are added together, followed by Greece (24,000MW solar and 15,000MW wind) and Germany (3,000MW solar and 35,000MW wind).

This huge pipeline of projects puts countries in good stead to meet the EU’s target of having 40% renewables in its overall final energy mix by 2030, which was revised up from 32% as a part of the EU’s ‘Fit for 55’ policy package.

Data from Eurostat shows that in 2019 renewable energy represented 19.7% of final energy consumed, just 0.3% short of the 2020 target of 20%.

The chart chosen for Energy Monitor’s weekly data shows the top 20 countries in Europe by combined current and future wind and solar capacity. The countries at the bottom of the league table that do not feature are Croatia, Latvia, Cyprus, Malta, Slovakia, Slovenia and Luxembourg.

Luxembourg and Malta are also the bottom two EU countries for their overall share of energy that already comes from renewables, with 7% and 9% renewable energy, respectively. Cyprus is eighth from the bottom with 14% of its energy from renewables.

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Latvia (41% renewable energy), Slovenia (22%) and Slovakia (17%) fare better, due to the sizable share of electricity these countries receive from hydropower, while Croatia (28%) similarly performs well due to the large amount of electricity generated from biomass.