With the move away from Russia-supplied fossil fuels, concerns were raised that Europe would be forced to rely heavily on coal power to get it through the winter.
Think-tank Ember has found that coal power share increased by only 1.5 percentage points to generate 16 per cent of EU electricity in 2022, with year-on-year falls in the last four months of 2022.
Despite the UK’s plans to shut down all coal plants by 2024, it was forced to fire up two coal generators in December in preparation for possible disruptions to the country’s electricity supply caused by the freezing weather conditions.
Ember's report also showed that wind and solar generated a record fifth (22 per cent) of EU electricity in 2022, overtaking fossil gas (20 per cent) for the first time.
Dave Jones, Ember’s head of data insights, said: “The shocks of 2022 only caused a minor ripple in coal power and a huge wave of support for renewables. Any fears of a coal rebound are now dead....