ATHENS

Solar power overtook hard coal as an energy source for the EU in 2022, Eurostat announced on Monday.

“In 2022, hard coal for the first time was overtaken by solar energy in electricity generation in the EU,” the statistics authority said in a statement, noting that solar energy produced 210,249 gigawatt hours (GWh) for the EU that year, compared with 205,693 GWh for hard coal.

Brown coal, a type of coal with lower energy content, is used in electricity generation by nine member countries and was the source of 241,572 GWh of electricity, according to the statement.

During the same period, the union’s import dependency for hard coal reached its highest point at 74.4%, up from some 60% in 2021, likely owing to countries building up stocks of hard coal.

In 2022 – the year the Ukraine war began – Russia remained the largest supplier of hard coal to the EU at 24%, down from 45% in 2021, followed by the US with 18% and Australia with 17%.