Weighed down by the weather and the price of gas, Belgian electricity production at its lowest in six years

The production of onshore and offshore wind turbines thus fell by 11% compared to the previous year, while a significant increase in their capacity is not expected in the short term.

Solar energy, for its part, reached a record, representing 12% of total Belgian electricity production. However, despite growth of 15% compared to 2023, this was not enough to compensate for the drop in wind production. In addition, 2024 was the year with the least sunshine in 25 years. Solar panel owners saw their production drop by more than 10% due to heavy cloud cover.

The most notable change has been at gas-fired power plants, whose production has fallen to its lowest level in at least a decade. While they usually covered around a quarter of Belgian electricity consumption, their share fell to only 14% in 2024. “It is pure market logic: it was often cheaper to import electricity from abroad than to run our power plants on gas”, explains Joannes Laveyne, energy researcher at the University of Ghent (UGent).