86 Percent of New Power in Europe From Renewable Sources in 2016 (theguardian.com)

Renewable energy sources made up nearly nine-tenths of new power added to Europe's electricity grids last year, in a sign of the continent's rapid shift away from fossil fuels. From a report on The Guardian: But industry leaders said they were worried about the lack of political support beyond 2020, when binding EU renewable energy targets end. Of the 24.5GW of new capacity built across the EU in 2016, 21.1GW -- or 86% -- was from wind, solar, biomass and hydro, eclipsing the previous high-water mark of 79% in 2014. For the first time windfarms accounted for more than half of the capacity installed, the data from trade body WindEurope showed. Wind power overtook coal to become the EU's second largest form of power capacity after gas, though due to the technology's intermittent nature, coal still meets more of the blocâ(TM)s electricity demand.

Comments

But this is only 2% of total power generated

[jfdavis668]

I have no idea what the actual number is, but the legacy non-renewable systems will vastly outweigh the new renewable. But it is definitely a step in the right direction.

"capacity"

[tomhath]

The "new capacity" is on top of the existing base load power plants. So when they do generate you might save some fossil fuel, when they don't generate there's not a problem.

That said, when people speak of "capacity" you can be sure they're blowing smoke. Actual generated megawatt hours is what matters; capacity means nothing, especially solar capacity in northern, cloudy areas like Europe

I would say 25.4% is greater than 2%

[jopsen]

I have no idea what the actual number is

Then by all means make up statistics rather than googling it, why don't change your username to Trump? :)

In 2014 renewable energy made up 25.4% of all energy production in the EU.
Source: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/s...

Now don't be fooled there is lots of similar stats here, like:

Renewable energy sources accounted for a 12.5 % share of the EU-28’s gross inland energy consumption in 2014.

(Presumably because not all energy is consumed, read the details if you care, but read before you bash).

The goal remains:

The EU seeks to have a 20 % share of its gross final energy consumption from renewable sources by 2020

Similarly, in 2014, the US was a 11%, source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
(note. don't confuse electricity production for total energy production).

All these stats are from 2014, clearly things a better now, given most new energy production facilities are renewable.

Re:Clearly

[MightyMartian]

What a load of crap!

http://www.snopes.com/2017/02/...

No, there's no fakery here. And when you're finished digesting just how gullible, then you can ponder the fact that the Arctic has been as high as 30 degress above normal temperatures this winter. While you try to salve your infantile feelings that the universe should behave like you want it to, CO2 still has the properties it has been known to have for over a century;

Grow up

Re: Clearly

[AmiMoJo]

Nuclear in Europe is insanely expensive. As in, you would be insane to pay those prices for it. Even with massive over-build and backup storage, wind is far cheaper. There is just no economic case for nuclear any more, at least not here.

Rant all you like about environmental nutjobs and NIMBYs, but it's investors and governments who are killing off nuclear. That and the returns on renewables are far better than could ever be hoped for from developing new nuclear designs to replace they crappy ones we have now.

By the way, did you know that Germany built -5 new coal power stations. Minus 5, as in they built some new ones but closed even more, ending up with 5 fewer and the new ones are cleaner to boot. Even China hit peak coal a couple of years back and is now on the decline.

Re:Base load

[angel'o'sphere]

Insightful, but wrong.

Solar curve matches the demand curve quite nicely in most countries. No idea if YOU have an AC peak at the afternoon in the US. Most countries have not. And turning solar panels more westward would account for such a peak.

Then to your battery recharging meme ... recharging is close to 99% efficient, the loss is marginal.

No idea where you get your numbers from.

Large scale storage is usually done with pumped storage, both pump and turbine are over 90% efficient, so the total efficiency is always over 81% ... usually around 85%.

Looking at your last sentences, I really wonder if you are a payed agitator here on /. ... if you are, keep in mind the user base of /. is still rather low, waste effort to spread your anti renewable myths ...

Re: Clearly

[Trogre]

You're not getting this.

Wind is not a base load and can't ever be so long as you don't have a guaranteed 24/7/365 air flow or massive battery reservoir.

Solar isn't for obvious reasons (night time and clouds exist).

Both wind and solar presently serve to supplement base loads, not replace them. That means they provide power when they can, not when demand dictates.

At the moment the only viable base loads are hydro, coal or nuclear.