Belgium energy mix & electricity

Electricity generation in Belgium reached 72.9 TWh in 2025. That puts it in the same league as Austria. The mix is unusually balanced. nuclear power leads with just 33.1%, closely followed by natural gas (21.5%) and wind power (18.8%).

38.9% of the country’s power came from renewable sources: 76th of 158 countries. That is 5 points above the world average of 33.8%. It is also below the average for Europe (41.6%). The EU-27 average is higher, at 47.7%. Add nuclear power (33.1%) and low-carbon sources reach 72% of generation. The carbon intensity of electricity is 150 g CO₂e/kWh; the global average is 458 g/kWh. By world standards this is a very clean grid. In the cleanest-grid ranking, Belgium is 34th of 158.

Since 2015, the fastest-growing source has been wind power: its output rose by 8.2 TWh, lifting its share by 10.7 percentage points. Meanwhile natural gas lost the most ground, down 6.3 TWh. The net effect: renewables gained 17.8 percentage points of share since 2015. Total generation grew by 4.5 TWh over the same period. Carbon intensity dropped from 216 to 150 g/kWh, a 30% cut.

Coal is effectively gone from the grid, down from a peak of 24.3% in 1990.

Solar (14.3%) and wind (18.8%) now add up to 33.2% of generation; the global figure is 17.3%. Per person, that is 889 kWh of solar electricity a year, 2.6× the global average. In solar electricity per person, Belgium ranks 16th in the world. Wind adds 1,167 kWh per person, the 18th-highest figure of 156 countries. Solar first passed 1% of the mix in 2011.

Generation per person is 6,199 kWh a year, 1.6× the world average of 3,860 kWh. Belgium is a net importer of electricity, buying 13.7 TWh more than it sells, about 16% of its demand.