According to the Luxembourg’s regulation institute (ILR), this represents a record for the country. With a cumulated power increasing from 90MW to 277MW at the end of 2021, the production capacity of solar panels climbed by 48% in one year.

This news comes as energy minister (déi Gréng) announced that from 2023, new construction projects would no longer be connected to gas but would have to rely on greener solutions, such as heat pumps.

However, the institute also noted that the share of green energy remains slow, only growing from 979 GWh in 2020 to 992 GWh in 2021. Luxembourg’s share of energy from renewable sources is one of the lowest in Europe-- it was 12.6% in 2020. The replacement of existing wind mills as well as less wind over the year are partly to blame for the slow progression, according to the ILR.

While solar energy production is on the rise, the cost of natural gas has increased by 34% compared to 2020. At the start of 2021, a CO2 tax was introduced in Luxembourg, thereby influencing the cost of gas. The impact of the energy crisis on electricity prices has yet to show up on the invoices of households, says the institute.

With the war in Ukraine, prices are set to continue climbing, generating in Luxembourg in 2022 too.