The EU's share of renewable energy in energy consumption increased from 8.5 percent to 16.7 percent between 2004 and 2015, according to Eurostat on Wednesday.
According to the updated version of Shedding Light on Energy in the EU report, the ongoing growth in renewables is enabling member states to reach their goal of reaching 20 percent usage of clean energy by 2020.
The share of renewable energy in the EU member states was the highest in Sweden at 53.9 percent of energy consumption.
Sweden was followed by Finland at 39.3 percent and Latvia at 37.6 percent. These lowest shares were seen in Luxembourg and Malta both at 5 percent, the Netherlands at 5.8 percent and Belgium at 7.9 percent.
'Differences stem from variations in the endowment with natural resources, mostly in the potential for building hydropower plants and in the availability of biomass,' Eurostat reveals.
The report also showed that all member states increased their renewable energy share between 2004 and 2015. However 13 at least doubled their share including, Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Italy, Spain, Greek Cypriot administration, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, Poland and Netherlands.
By Gulsen Cagatay
Anadolu Agency
gulsen.cagatay@aa.com.tr