Cyprus sees renewable energy growth despite minor setback
Eurostat’s latest data reveals a compelling shift in the landscape of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) for heating and cooling within the European Union.
The year 2022 witnessed a substantial surge, with RES accounting for an average of 24.8 per cent of energy used for heating and cooling in the EU. This marked a notable increase of 1.8 percentage points from the previous year’s figure of 23.0 per cent.
Conversely, Cyprus experienced a marginal dip of 1 percentage point during the same timeframe. Despite this minor setback, the heating and cooling sector in Cyprus boasts a commendable 41.5 per cent share of renewable sources, standing significantly higher than the EU average.
It is important to note, however, that although this percentage is considerably lower than that of the leading country in the EU, Sweden, which boasts a 69.3 per cent share, Cyprus has experienced a significant increase over the past ten years.
Heating and cooling energy consumption is a major component of the total gross final energy consumption in the EU, accounting for around half. Over time, there has been a gradual increase in the gross final consumption of renewable energy for heating and cooling purposes in the EU. This rise is primarily attributable to the contributions from biomass and heat pumps.
Looking at the broader picture over the last decade, the average share of energy from renewable sources for heating and cooling in the EU escalated from 18.6 per cent in 2012 to 24.8 per cent in 2022, marking an increase of 6.2 percentage points. During the same period, Cyprus witnessed a remarkable increase from 21.8 per cent in 2012 to 41.6 per cent in 2022, an impressive growth of 19.8 pp.
According to the objectives set by the EU Directive 2023/2413 on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources (RED III), Member States are required to achieve an annual increase in the share of renewable energy sources in heating and cooling. This increment is specified to be at least 0.8 percentage points per year from 2021 to 2025 and at least 1.1 pp per year from 2026 to 2030.
At the Member State level, in 2022, Sweden led the way in renewable energy usage for heating and cooling, with a share of 69.3 per cent, closely followed by Estonia at 65.4 per cent. Both countries primarily utilize biomass and heat pumps. Latvia, mainly relying on biomass, follows with a 61.0 per cent share.
On the lower end of the spectrum, the lowest shares of renewables for heating and cooling were observed in Ireland (6.3 per cent), the Netherlands (8.6 per cent), and Belgium (10.4 per cent). Compared to 2021, the most significant increases were recorded in Malta (+5.2 percentage points), Luxembourg (+2.5 pp), and Ireland (+1.4 pp).
However, not all trends were positive. Decreases were recorded in Austria (-2.4 percentage points), Slovenia (-1.2 pp), and Cyprus (-1.0 pp), highlighting the diverse trajectories of renewable energy adoption across the EU.