Europe will have to rely on higher wind speeds this autumn to see a rise in annual clean power generation as electricity output from wind slumped earlier this year and solar passed its yearly peak in the summer.
Europe’s electricity supply from wind fell by 6% in January to August from a year earlier, according to estimates by think tank Ember cited by Reuters columnist Gavin Maguire.
Total clean electricity supply in Europe fell by 2% in the first eight months of the year compared to the same period of last year, per the Ember data.
Current weather forecasts are bullish on wind speeds (and therefore, wind power generation) from the second half of September.
Autumn is typically a period of higher wind speeds. If favorable wind speeds are sustained into the winter, they could help Europe’s power generation during the colder months and could still help the continent boost clean energy supply to record-highs for the full year 2025.
During the summer, solar power generation was the top clean energy source, but as peak summer and peak sunshine have now faded, it will be wind to generate most of Europe’s renewable electricity, especially in the north.
Europe could only hope wind speeds aren’t as disappointing as late in 2024 and in early 2025, when the lull in wind speeds led to a surge in gas and coal power generation during the coldest winter in Europe since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Utilities across the European Union boosted electricity output from gas and coal plants by 13% in the first half of 2025 from a year earlier—the biggest annual increase for January to June since 2017, per Ember estimates cited by Reuters’ Maguire in July.
Gas-fired power plants saw generation jump by 19% to the highest level in three years. Coal-fired electricity output increased by 2% to the highest in two years. At the same time, wind power generation slumped by 9%, the steepest drop on record, due to low wind speeds, the data compiled by Reuters showed.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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