The International Energy Agency’s latest Monthly Electricity Statistics report, which includes March 2022 data, shows that total OECD net electricity production reached 899.1 TWh in March 2022, up by 2.2% compared to March 2021. 49.0% of this originated from fossil fuels, 34.5% from renewable sources and 16.2% from nuclear power. Overall, in the first quarter of 2022, net electricity production increased by 2.4% on year-to-date basis, totalling 2789.7 TWh.
Electricity from renewable sources increased by 2.0% on a year-on-year basis, mainly driven by higher solar power production (+7.8 TWh, representing an 18.2% increase), with production showing gains in all OECD regions. Hydropower production continued to decrease largely driven by low rainfall across southwest European countries since the start of 2022. Spain (-56.7% year to date), France (-26.0% y-t-d), Italy (-44.2% y-t-d) and Portugal (-67.0% y-t-d) were the members most affected in the first quarter of 2022.
Electricity production from fossil sources amounted to 440.8 TWh in March 2022, up by 5.1% on year-on-year basis. Coal power production that was the main contributor to this increase representing 19.1% of the electricity mix, increased by 7.1% compared March 2021. Electricity from natural gas also increased in March 2022 (+3.9% y-o-y), despite several European countries having decreased their reliance on this fuel source for electricity.
The stand-out figures came from Germany, where net electricity production has increased to 51.1 TWh in March 2022, a 2.2% y-o-y increase and 4.6% y-t-d. Power generation from renewable sources has contracted by 8.3% y-o-y, manly driven by a decrease of net electricity generation from wind by 29.6% y-o-y, as the available resource was lower than the normal seasonal trend for March. To balance the underlying decrease, power generation by combustible fuels rose by 22.0% (y-o-y), with the primary contributor being coal (+43.2% y-o-y).
The IEA's Monthly Electricity Statistics features electricity production and trade data for all OECD Member states.
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