Renewable generation has broken multiple records in Belgium with offshore and onshore wind, and with solar power accounting for 18.6% of the electricity mix, Elia, Belgium's electricity transmission system operator's report said on Thursday.
The country reached a 31% year-on-year increase to 15.1 terawatts-hours (TWh) relative to 11.5 TWh in 2019 in renewable energy generation.
According to the report, the main driver for this increase was the weather, in terms of wind and solar, for increased installed capacity.
Wind power was up from 3,796 megawatts (MW) at the end of 2019 to 4,670 MW at the end of 2020 while photovoltaics (PV) were up from 3,887 MW at the end of 2019 to 4,788 MW at the end of 2020.
Many records were broken this year, with the average monthly megawatt-hour (MWh) price on the day-ahead market reaching a historic low, the company stated.
With the help of increased installed capacity, the average monthly price on the short-term (day-ahead) market fell to a historic low of €31.9 per MWh.
Wind generation in Belgium hit a new record high at 3.8 gigawatts at around 09 PM on Dec. 26, 2020.
A new monthly solar generation record of 683 gigawatt-hours (GWh) was set in May 2020, beating the previous record of 504 GWh from June 2019.
"This was due to the sunny weather that month, but also, primarily, to the increase in installed photovoltaic capacity," the report said.
Other factors that affected the share of generation were in part due to offshore wind development, a reduction in nuclear generation, stable generation from gas-fired power plants and a near balance between electricity imports and exports.
By Gulsen Cagatay
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr