June the 26th, 2025 – Croatia is at the very top of the EU in terms of renewable energy, which makes a very pleasant change to the rather unenviable positions it tends to find itself on on EU lists.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, in the first quarter of 2025, Croatia was among the EU leaders in terms of the share of renewable energy sources in net electricity production, scoring a very high 77.3 percent. Only Denmark (88.5 percent) and Portugal (86.6 percent) achieved a higher share, according to the latest Eurostat report.
However, it’s very important to emphasise that such a fantastic result for Croatia is primarily a consequence of the strong share of hydroelectric power plants in the domestic energy mix. At the same time, the decline in the share of renewable production at the EU level indicates structural weaknesses that will need to be systematically addressed.
Looking at the situation at the EU level, the share of electricity from renewable sources has fallen when compared to the 2024. In the first three months of 2025, renewable sources accounted for 42.5 percent of the bloc’s net electricity production, which is a decrease of 4.3 percentage points compared to the same period in 2024, when this share stood at 46.8 percent.
The main reason for this decline was a significant drop in production from hydro-power and wind energy, which together make up the largest part of renewable production means. Hydro and wind power generated 218.5 terawatt hours in the first quarter of 2025, compared to 260.5 terawatt hours a year earlier.
Although solar production across the EU has increased significantly – from 40.9 terawatt hours to 55 terawatt hours – this growth wasn’t enough to offset the overall decline. When looking at the structure of renewable production across the EU, the largest contribution in the first quarter of 2025 came from wind energy (42.5%), followed by hydro-power (29.2%) and then by solar energy (18.1%).
Croatia has made significant efforts towards properly utilising its natural gifts, including the sea, the sun, and the wind. Russian aggression against Ukraine only hastened the pace of Croatia working hard to reach the top of the EU list for renewable energy usage. It’s safe to say that at least according to Eurostat, it has managed precisely that.
