Greece has biggest combined share of wind, solar in electricity generation in SEE

Greece is eighth in the world in Ember’s chart of the share of wind and solar in electricity generation for 2021. Croatia came in seventh in the bioenergy section.

Total share of wind and solar power topped 10% for the first time in global electricity output last year, according to Ember. In its Global Electricity Review, the energy and climate think tank said several countries in the region tracked by Balkan Green Energy News are above average.

Greece tops the Balkan chart with a stunning 28.7% and, according to the report, it is eighth in the world. Croatia has a share of 14.5%, followed closely by Romania’s (14%), Cyprus (13.9%) and Turkey (13.3%). Montenegro’s score is 8.7%, compared to Bulgaria’s 6.2%. The remaining countries in the region are all below 3%. There is no data for Kosovo*.

Turkey more than doubled its wind share since 2015

Greece is also eighth when it comes to wind alone, at 20%. In the top 20 list, which excludes countries with less than three million people, Croatia is 13th with 14% and Romania took the 19th position – 11%. Turkey, which is part of the Group of Twenty of the world’s largest and emerging economies, more than doubled its wind share since 2015, when the Paris Agreement was signed, to 9.4% from 4.5%.

In the solar power sector, Greece came in 12th in the world, also excluding small countries, with a 9% share in electricity output. Many Eastern European countries have paused, with similar levels of solar generation in 2021 as in 2015 – notably, Bulgaria, Czechia, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia, Ember said. Turkey jumped to 3.9% in six years from just 0.1%.

In bioenergy, Croatia is the only representative from the Balkans among the top 20. Its 7% share earned it the 16th position. Turkey quadrupled its level since 2015, to 1.9%.

Bulgaria is seventh in the world in the share of nuclear energy in electricity output

There are no Southeastern European countries in the headline list in the hydropower segment. Of note, Albania, which has a population of just under three million, produces almost all of its electricity from hydropower.

The region has been struck by a severe drought in 2021. Turkey’s share of hydropower in electricity generation came in at 16.9%, compared to the 25.7% that was registered for 2015.

In nuclear energy, Bulgaria has the highest ranking in the Balkans, at number seven on a global scale with 35%, while Romania is 14th with 19%.

Turkey had a share of coal in the production of electricity of 31% last year, compared to 28.4% in 2015. But Serbia is seventh in the world, also excluding countries with less than three million people, with 64%. Bosnia and Herzegovina is 11th with 56% and Bulgaria is 19th with 38%.

In an earlier report, Ember said Kosovo* produces 94.8% of its power from coal, which makes it second in the world. In the meantime, a 105 MW wind power plant was commissioned there, so the share should be lower.