EU renewables doubled, emissions slashed since 1980: Eurelectric

EU renewables doubled, emissions slashed since 1980: Eurelectric

London (Platts)--27Mar2006

The European Union's renewables capacity went up from 90 GW (for the EU
15) in 1980 to 172 GW in 2004 (EU 25), the EU's power industry umbrella group
Eurelectric said Monday. In its second environmental statistics report,
Eurelectric said fossil-fired power generation had risen alongside renewables
as a result of the expansion of the EU in 2004 to take in 10 new member
states, mainly from eastern Europe. It said hydro and nuclear capacity in the
EU had remained roughly the same over the 25-year period.
But despite the greater role of fossil-fired generation in the wider EU,
Eurelectric said that that greenhouse gas emissions had fallen. It said power
generation for the EU15 had risen by 50% between 1980 and 2005, but total CO2
emisisons from power generation had fallen slightly. For the enlarged EU, CO2
emissions rose by around 15% over the period, Eurelectric's data shows. The
carbon intensity of power generation had fallen from around 600,000 mt/TWh for
the EU 15 in 1980 to around 300,000 mt/TWh for the EU15 in 2002. For the
enlarged EU in 2004, the figure was around 400,000 mt/TWh.
The report also noted a 40% drop in sulfur hexafluoride, a greenhouse gas
used in in electrical equipment, in less than 10 years. Other pollutants from
the power generation have also fallen, Eurelectric's report shows.
Statistics on air pollutants, sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx),
show that the electricity industry in the EU15 (1980-2002) and the EU25
(2003-2004), cut emissions by 72% for SO2 and 45% for NOx respectively from
1980 to 2004, although electricity production has increased by 50% since 1980.
Eurelectric's report also gives information on emissions of fine dust,
underlining that fossil-fuelled power stations directly emit very small
quantities of primary particles, accounting for less than 3% of total EU
primary particle emissions.

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