Growth in Renewables Saved the EU $11 Billion in Gas Imports Since the War
Wind and solar produced a quarter of the EU’s electricity between March and September this year, according to a study by E3G and Ember
The blades of a wind turbine in an agricultural field in Brandenburg, Germany, on Monday, May 2, 2022.
Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/BloombergAn increase in wind and solar power capacity saved the European Union billions of dollars that would otherwise have been spent on gas imports since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Clean power covered 24% of the EU’s energy needs between March and September this year, the highest ever for this six-month period, according to a study by think tanks E3G and Ember. The increase in wind and solar capacity over that period alone was equivalent to 8 billion cubic meters of avoided gas imports, or 11 billion euros ($10.75 billion) in avoided gas costs.