Renewables meet 18.6% of Belgium's power demand in 2020

Renewables were responsible for 18.6% of Belgium’s power generation in 2020, marking a 31% year-on-year rise thanks to capacity additions and favourable weather.

During the past year, Belgium produced 15.1 TWh of power from renewable energy sources, against 11.5 TWh a year back, shows data released last week by domestic transmission system operator (TSO) Elia. According to the statistics, at end-2020, Belgium had 4,670 MW of operational wind power capacity, including onshore and offshore, up from 3,796 MW a year earlier, while its cumulative solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity increased to 4,788 MW from 3,887 MW.

“Once again, a relatively high level of solar energy was generated in the summer, with higher wind generation during the winter,” Elia said.

Wind generation reached a record-high of 3.8 GWh on December 26, 2020. A new monthly high was recorded for solar in May 2020, when solar generation hit 683 GWh, beating the previous record of 504 GWh set in June 2019.

Apart from the expanded renewables capacity, 2020 was marked by a drop in nuclear generation, which met 39.1% of Belgium's electricity needs, stable generation from gas-fired power plants and a near balance between electricity imports and exports. At 81 TWh, the overall power consumption in the country was 7% below the average for the previous five years.

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