By 2020, the European Union member nations target to achieve a 20% share of renewable energy in gross final consumption and increase this level to at least 32% by 2030. Out of 28 countries in this group, 11 have already achieved the 2020 targets. The statistical office of the EU, Eurostat identifies these nations as Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Croatia, Italy, Lithuania, Hungary, Romania, Finland and Sweden.
Latvia and Austria are just 1 percentage point away from reaching their 2020 targets. The countries that are farthest from their renewable energy target by several percentage points are the Netherlands, France, Ireland, the UK, Luxembourg, Poland and Belgium.
Since 2004 when the data was first collated and when renewable energy share in the gross energy consumption was 8.5%, it increased to 17% in 2016 and 17.5% in 2017.
Among all EU nations, Sweden had the highest share of renewables in its gross final consumption of energy at 54.5% in 2017, followed by Finland with 41%, Latvia with 39%, Denmark with 35.8% and Austria with 32.6%. At the other end of the spectrum were Luxembourg with a 6.4% share of renewables in its energy mix, the Netherlands with 6.6% and Malta with 7.2%.
Wind power is the dominant source of renewable electricity in the EU, followed by hydro power. Between 2007 and 2017, solar power's share out of all electricity generated in the EU-28 from renewables went up from 0.7% to 12.3%, said Eurostat.
A February 2019 study by Agora Energiewende and Sandbag claimed renewable energy accounted for 32.3% of cumulative electricity production in 2018 in the EU, with solar contributing over 9 GW. The study forecasts over 30 GW solar additions in a high scenario in 2022 (see Solar May Add 30 GW To EU RE Capacity In 2022).