Renewable Electricity Production Covers 16.7% of National Consumption

The Energy Department of the Luxembourg Regulatory Institute (Institut Luxembourgeois de Régulation - ILR) has announced it published its annual October report on European and cross-border cooperation in the electricity and natural gas sectors, on the development of competition, on the markets wholesale and retail sectors, security of supply and consumer protection and empowerment.

This report is mainly intended for the European Commission, the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) and the Minister of Energy and Spatial Planning, but it also contains information that could interest consumers.

The ILR noted in this report that the production of electricity from renewable energy sources showed an increase to 1,060 GWh, compared to 993 GWh in 2021. The 54.1% increase over one year of photovoltaic production has largely contributed to this development. This is explained by an increase in installed power since 2021. Note that the production of renewable electricity covers 16.7% of national consumption. 2.3% of consumption is covered by non-renewable production in Luxembourg. The rest is imported mainly from Germany.

As for the energy consumed in 2022, the consumption rate of electricity fell by 3%, while that of natural gas fell by 21%.

Self-consumption empowers users to utilise renewable electricity as it becomes available, notably allowing them to circumvent the expenses associated with obtaining power from the grid. This approach reduces an individual's reliance on grid-supplied energy and the fluctuations in market prices. In 2022, a significant 76% of households with new photovoltaic systems opted for self-consumption rather than feeding their excess production back into the grid, marking a substantial increase from the 14.7% recorded in 2021. During the first half of 2023, there were 91 new installations. Furthermore, as of 31 December 2022, the number of installations operating in self-consumption mode stood at 1,257, a substantial rise from the 307 installations recorded on 31 December 2021.

The ILR noted that citizens can now share their own production of renewable electricity with other consumers within the framework of collective self-consumption or energy communities.

In 2022, the rise in electricity prices was largely balanced out by a decrease in legal fees. As for natural gas, starting from May 2022, the Luxembourg government has been covering the expenses related to the use of natural gas distribution networks, in line with the tripartite decisions. Additionally, the price of natural gas has been capped since October 2022. In this context, if the displayed price exceeds the capped price, the State covers the difference between the two, with the capped price being fixed at 0.8325€ per m3 of natural gas consumed, excluding network usage costs and applicable taxes. These measures have effectively mitigated the considerable hike in natural gas prices since May 2022 and are currently still in effect.