Mapped: Europe’s Biggest Sources of Electricity by Country


This post is by Niccolo Conte from Visual Capitalist


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Map of Europe with countries colored according to their biggest sources of electricity generation

Mapped: Europe’s Biggest Sources of Electricity by Country

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Energy and electricity supply have become vital for nearly every European nation over the past year, as the region shifts away from its dependence on Russian fuel imports.

While many countries have been making progress in their energy transition away from fossil fuels, nearly half of European countries are still dependent on them as their primary source of electricity generation.

This graphic maps out European countries by their top source of electricity generation using data from Electricity Maps and the IEA, along with a breakdown of the EU’s overall electricity generation by source in 2021.

Europe’s Electricity Generation by Energy Source

Europe has been steadily transitioning towards renewable sources of energy for their electricity generation, making considerable progress over the last decade.

In 2011, fossil fuels (oil, natural gas, and coal) made up 49% of the EU’s electricity production while renewable energy sources only made up 18%. A decade later, renewable energy sources are coming close to equaling fossil fuels, with renewables making up 32% of the EU’s electricity generation compared to fossil fuels’ 36% in 2021.

SourceEU Electricity Generation Share (2011)EU Electricity Generation Share (2021)
Nuclear29%25%
Coal25%14%
Natural Gas19%20%
Hydropower10%13%
Wind6% (Read more...)