欧州はOECD全体の中で再エネが最も増えた地域で、太陽光発電・風力発電は欧州の再エネ発電部門でそれぞれ25％・70％を占め、前年比はそれぞれ4％増・1％減であった。欧州の太陽光発電・風力発電の28％を占めたドイツでは、天候不順によってそれぞれ1％減・7％減で、原子力発電の段階的廃止と相俟って化石燃料等の焚き増しを要した。

Total OECD production of electricity from Geothermal, Solar, Wind and Other renewables was 873.9TWh in 2016, which was 75.6TWh, or 8.4%, higher than in 2015, with increases seen in all OECD regions. Europe had the smallest increase in this category of 1.9TWh, or 0.4%. In Asia/Oceania, there was an increase of 9.6TWh, or 12.6%. The Americas rose the most with 64.1TWh, or 22.5%, driven by increases in U.S. Solar and Wind of 45% and 19%, respectively.

The European trend contrasts with last year, when Europe showed the highest increases of all of the OECD regions. Solar and Wind dominate, producing roughly 25% and 70%, respectively, of the electricity in this category for Europe and whilst it was a good year for European Solar production, which increased 4337TWh, or 4%, Wind production fell 1%. Germany, which produced roughly 28% of the European Solar and Wind for 2016, had decreases of 1% and 7%, respectively, due to weather conditions. With the aforementioned phase-out of Nuclear, this necessitated an increase in Combustible Fuels.

以上のことからして、OECD諸国では、全体としては化石燃料への依存度がまだまだ高く、世界的にも近年特に伸びが著しいとされる太陽光・風力の寄与度は依然として低いことが見て取れる。象徴的であるが、再エネ大国であるドイツの脱原子力の動きは、化石燃料消費の増加を招いていることもわかる。

（NPO法人社会保障経済研究所代表　石川 和男　Twitter@kazuo_ishikawa）