Malta Lags Behind as EU Hits New Renewable Energy Milestone
According to the latest Eurostat figures, renewable energy sources supplied 54.0% of net electricity generated across the EU in the second quarter of 2025, an increase from 52.7% in the same period last year.
This surge was driven above all by solar power. Between April and June, EU solar generation reached 122,317 GWh, representing nearly a fifth of all electricity produced. In June 2025, solar power became the Union’s largest single source of electricity for the first time, contributing 22.0% — surpassing nuclear (21.6%), wind (15.8%), hydro (14.1%), and natural gas (13.8%).
Yet behind these headline numbers lies a striking contrast between member states. Denmark topped the list with a 94.7% renewable share, followed closely by Latvia at 93.4%. On the other hand, Slovakia (19.9%) and Malta (21.2%) recorded the lowest shares, underscoring the uneven pace of the clean energy transition across Europe.
Malta: A Small Island with Big Energy Challenges
For Malta, renewables accounted for just 21.2% of net electricity generation in Q2 2025, less than half the EU average. Despite abundant sunshine, the island remains one of the least green electricity producers in the bloc.
Several factors help explain this gap:
- Heavy reliance on imports – Without domestic fossil fuel reserves, Malta has long depended on imported fuels. The Malta–Sicily interconnector, operational since 2015, further means that part of the country’s supply is imported electricity rather than home-grown renewable generation.
- Space and planning limits—Malta, the EU’s smallest member state, faces land scarcity. Given its high population density, tourism pressures, and aesthetic concerns, large solar or wind farms are difficult to develop.
- Slow infrastructure investment – While rooftop solar has grown, Malta has lagged in large-scale renewable projects and storage systems compared with other EU countries.
Risks and Opportunities Ahead
Malta’s low renewable share carries significant risks: exposure to volatile international fuel prices, dependence on imported electricity, and a potential loss of competitiveness in the EU’s green economy.
But it also presents opportunities. Malta enjoys some of Europe’s most substantial solar potential, making rooftop photovoltaic systems, building-integrated solar, and battery storage especially promising. Improving the flexibility of the national grid and investing in energy efficiency could also unlock higher renewable penetration.
Crucially, stronger policy support — from subsidies and incentives to streamlined planning rules — will be essential if Malta is to catch up with EU partners and reduce its dependence on fossil fuels.
The Article in the Eurostat
In the second quarter of 2025, 54.0% of net electricity generated in the EU came from renewable energy sources, an increase from the 52.7% registered in the same quarter of 2024. This increase was mostly due to solar energy, which generated a total of 122 317 gigawatt-hours (GWh) in the second quarter of 2025, representing 19.9% of the total electricity generation mix.
June 2025 was the first month in history where solar energy (22.0%) was the main source of electricity generated in the EU, ahead of nuclear (21.6%), wind (15.8%), hydro (14.1%) and natural gas (13.8%).
Among EU countries, in the second quarter of 2025, Denmark, with 94.7%, had the highest share of renewables in net electricity generated, followed by Latvia (93.4%), Austria (91.8%), Croatia (89.5%) and Portugal (85.6%). The lowest shares of renewables were recorded in Slovakia (19.9%), Malta (21.2%) and Czechia (22.1%).
Source dataset: nrg_cb_pem
In 15 EU countries, the share of renewable energy sources in net electricity generation increased in the second quarter of 2025. The largest year-on-year increases were recorded in Luxembourg (+13.5 percentage points (pp)) and Belgium (+9.1 pp), both of them due to the increase in solar energy.
Most of the electricity generated from renewable sources came from solar (36.8%), wind (29.5%) and hydro (26.0%), followed by combustible renewable fuels (7.3%) and geothermal energy (0.4%).
Source dataset: nrg_cb_pem
For more information
- Statistics Explained article on renewable energy
- Shedding light on energy in Europe – 2025 edition
- Thematic section on energy
- Database on energy
- Interactive energy visualisations
- Energy monthly – visualisation
- Energy dashboard – visualisation
- Statistics for the European Green Deal
Methodological notes
- The share of renewables in net electricity production should not be mistaken for the share of renewables in gross electricity consumption, which is the main indicator used to monitor the Renewable Energy Directive (RED). The methodologies used to calculate each of them differ. The former (used in this article) is only based on electricity generation, while the latter follows the methodology of the RED and divides electricity generation by electricity consumption, which can lead to shares higher than 100%. In addition, the share according to the RED requires that hydro and wind power are averaged over several years to smooth out the effects of meteorological variation (‘normalised’), and considers electricity from renewable combustible fuels (solid, liquid and gaseous biofuels) as renewable only when these biofuels comply with the sustainability criteria. More details on these differences can be found in the Energy balance guide and in the SHARES Manual.
- Hydro power excludes pure pumping in the numerator and the denominator, which is a methodological change compared to the news item on this topic published on 19 March 2025.
- Solar includes solar photovoltaics and solar thermal electricity generation.
- Data presented in this news item is collected at monthly frequency. For this news item, monthly data is aggregated into quarters (e.g. Q2). However, the data indicated for the month of June is monthly data, referring only to June.
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