More solar panels in Luxembourg, but wind subsides

The number of solar panels jumped by nearly half in Luxembourg last year, the national energy regulator said, although the overall production of sustainable energy rose only narrowly because of light winds.

A total of 1,264 new installations popped up last year, increasing the number of stations used to generate electricity through sunlight by 48%.

The cumulative power of all these photovoltaic installations tripled to 277 Megawatt (MW) by the end of December, from 90 MW a year earlier, the ILR said in its latest report with numbers of the electricity market.

Yet the production of all renewable power - largely wind energy - rose only slightly to 993 Gigawatthours (GWh) in 2021, from 979 GWh a year earlier as wind turbines produced 10% less energy because of low winds and also because a number of old wind turbines had been shut down.

New installations at the same sites will soon replace these outdated wind turbines, the ILR said.

Luxembourg was the second country worldwide to reach its overshoot day – the day when people’s consumption of non-renewable resources, such as petrol - exceeds what the earth can generate in that year, despite a pledge by the Grand Duchy to cut carbon emissions by 5% over the next decade.

Just 7% of the energy consumed in Luxembourg came from renewable sources, in 2019, the lowest in Europe. That is despite the fact that energy production from renewable sources increased by 17% in Luxembourg in that year.

The Grand Duchy trailed an EU average of renewable energy production of 20%. Sweden led the EU pack with 56% of its energy consumption coming from renewable energy sources, followed by Finland at 43% and Denmark at 37%.

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