An estimated 315,000 of the 3.1 million gigawatt-hour of gross electricity generated in 2016 in the European Union (EU) came from wind power. In other words, wind accounted for 10% of the total electrical energy produced in the EU in 2016. This is five times more than in 2005 (2%). Hungary has five countries behind it in this particular ranking, published by Eurostat, the statistical agency of the European Union.
As such, wind is the fourth source of electricity in the EU, after conventional thermal (49%), nuclear (26%) and hydro (12%) energy.
In the EU Member States, Denmark recorded by far the highest proportion of wind in total gross electricity generation with 43% in 2016. It was followed by Lithuania (27%), Ireland (21%), Portugal 20%), Spain (18%) and the United Kingdom (14%).
At the opposite end of the scale, the contribution of wind to the production of electricity was insignificant in Malta, Slovenia, Slovakia and the Czech Republic (all with a share below 1%) and very marginal in Latvia and Hungary (both 2%) as well as in France, Luxembourg and Finland (all around 4%).
In 2016, the Hungarian government introduced new regulations, the impact of which is to limit the installation of new wind turbines in the country. As the amendment to the energy law bans wind turbines within a 12-kilometre radius of populated areas, it hinders the penetration of wind energy, the International Energy Agency said in a recent report.
Compared with 2005, the contribution of wind to total gross electricity generation has increased in all the EU Member States that use wind as source of electricity. The highest rises were observed in Lithuania (from 0% to 27%, or + 27 percentage points - pp) and Denmark (+24 pp), ahead of Portugal (+17 pp), Ireland (+16 pp), the United Kingdom (+13 pp), Spain and Germany (both +11 pp).
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