Cyprus' use of renewable sources for electricity rising, despite slow progress

In absolute terms, the production of electricity from renewable energy sources in the European Union increased by almost 5% from 2020 to 2021 according to data released by Eurostat, the statistical service of the EU.

However, the gross electricity consumption also increased mainly due to economic recovery after lifting COVID-19 restrictions. As a result, the share of renewable energy sources in gross electricity consumption in the EU only increased by 0.1 percentage points (pp), from 37.4% in 2020 to 37.5% in 2021.

In Cyprus, the share of renewable energy sources in gross electricity consumption in 2021 was the fifth smallest in the EU (14.8%).

It must be noted though that the share of renewables in Cyprus increased compared to 2020 (12.0%).

The share of renewables in Cyprus has been increasing continuously over the past 20 years, starting from 0.019 in 2004 and rising gradually to 1.4% by 2010, increasing again to 3.4% in 2011 and reaching 8.4% by 2015. In 2019 the share reached 9.8% before increasing again in 2020 to 12.0%.

On an EU level, wind and hydropower accounted for over two-thirds of the total electricity generated from renewable sources (37% and 32%, respectively). The remaining one-third of electricity came from solar power (15%), solid biofuels (7%) and other renewable sources (8%).

Solar power is the fastest-growing source; in 2008, it only accounted for 1% of the electricity consumed in the EU.

In 2021, more than three-quarters of gross electricity consumption in Austria (76.2%, relying mostly on hydro) and Sweden (75.7%, mostly hydro and wind) was generated from renewable sources.

These EU Member States were followed by Denmark (62.6%, mostly wind), Portugal (58.4%, wind and hydro) and Croatia (53.5%, mostly hydro).

At the other end of the scale, the lowest shares of electricity from renewable sources were reported in Malta (9.7%), Hungary (13.7%), Luxembourg (14.2%), Czechia (14.5%) and Cyprus (14.8%).