Solar is helping to rescue Europe from the crippling costs of fossil fuel imports, as the war on Iran sends oil and gas prices soaring.
Brent crude, which is used as the worldwide benchmark for oil prices, has increased by more than 50 per cent since the conflict in the Middle East began, hitting €107 per barrel yesterday morning (31 March).
The benchmark Dutch TTF natural gas price has also surged by around 70 per cent. It means March 2026 is on course to be the highest monthly increase for European gas prices since September 2021.
Much of the surge has been blamed on the Strait of Hormuz’s effective closure, which carries around one-fifth of global oil supplies.
However, new analysis by SolarPower Europe reveals that harnessing sunlight for energy has saved Europe more than €100 million per day since 1 March, resulting in total savings of more than €3 billion. If gas prices remain high, experts say that total savings in 2026 could reach as much as €67.5 billion.
Europe urged to ‘maximise’ its solar capability
The report argues that solar capacity is already providing a “major buffer” against the war’s subsequent energy shock.
In the first 20 days of March alone, the analysis – which is based on Rystad Energy gas price data – found that solar electricity generation saved the EU €2 billion that it would otherwise have spent on fossil fuel imports.
According to analysts, solar energy drove down the total cost of meeting the EU’s energy needs by almost a third. Despite this, for the first time in a decade, the EU solar market is starting to decline.
“It’s time to learn the lessons from not one, but two energy crises,” says Walburga Hemetsberge, CEO of SolarPower Europe.
“But the growth of European solar has flatlined at a time when the benefits are greater than ever. The urgent task for policymakers is to now maximise what solar can do for Europe.”
Hemetsberge is calling on governments to create more flexible energy grids, deploy more energy storage and deepen electrification across the economy.
Despite being faced with a “wave of disinformation”, heat pumps were also found to have saved €20 billion in 2025, and are expected to save €5.3 billion between January and April this year.
How renewables are shielding Europe from rising gas prices
Several European nations have already demonstrated the benefits of revolutionising their energy systems by focusing on green technology prior to the war on Iran.
Since 2019, Spain has doubled its wind and solar capacity, adding more than 40GW to its energy mix. To put that into perspective, a power plant with a capacity of 1 GW could power approximately 876,000 households for one year, if they consume the average of 10,000 kWh of electricity per year.
“Spain’s wind and solar growth has reduced the influence of expensive fossil generators on the electricity price by 75 per cent since 2019,” energy think tank Ember said in a report published last year.
“This decline in the hours where the electricity price was tied to gas power cost was faster than in other gas-reliant countries, such as Italy and Germany.”
In European power markets, the most expensive generator operating to meet demand, which is typically fossil fuels, sets the hourly wholesale electricity price. However, as generation from lower-cost technologies like wind and solar grows, it displaces gas and coal, meaning fossil fuels determine the price less often.
Record wind has also helped the UK break a new renewable record, despite "fantasy" claims that the country needs to drill the North Sea for oil.
On 26 March, British wind energy generation hit a new high of 23,880 megawatts, enough power to cover 23 million homes.
“Wind provided more than half of Britain’s electricity during this record period, and it’s highly significant that earlier in the day low-cost wind and solar squeezed expensive gas off our energy system - with gas falling to its lowest level of generation for nearly two years, providing just 2.3 per cent of our electricity,” says RenewableUK’s Tara Singh.
“That’s what the energy transition looks like in practice, and it shows why we need to continue to build out an ambitious pipeline of new clean energy projects now and in the years ahead.”
Which EU country is leading the renewables race?
In 2025, wind and solar generated more EU electricity than fossil fuels for the first time ever, marking what experts described as a “major milestone” in the transition to clean power.
A report from Ember found that wind and solar accounted for a record 30 per cent of EU electricity, overtaking fossil fuels by just one per cent.
In 2024, Austria led the way as the country with the highest green electricity use rate (90 per cent) – spearheaded by its 16 hydroelectric power plants.
Sweden came a close second at 88 per cent, powered mainly by wind and water, while Denmark was ranked third with 80 per cent of its energy coming from renewable sources.
This was followed by Georgia (68.4 per cent), Portugal (65.8 per cent), Spain (69.7 per cent) and Croatia (58 per cent). Malta was ranked last, with just 10.7 per cent of renewable energy use.
