Abstract

Research background: In the era of climate change, environmental degradation, but also growing pub-lic awareness, there is a need to look for new ecological energy sources. This condition can be met by renewable energy sources (RES). The EU seeks to have a 32% share of its gross final energy consumption from renewable sources by 2030. While the EU as a whole is on course to meet its tar-gets, the question is if production of renewable energy at a given level is not a chal-lenge for selected Central and Eastern Europe countries (CEECs) trsdi-tionslly dependent on fossil fuels. In order to take steps to develop RES in the studied countries, there is a need to analyze their diversity in terms of the potential. The results of such analyses should support the implementation of adopted strate-gies. Purpose of the article: The article divides the CEECs into similar groups by the structure and volume of energy production from RES. This production was com-pared with the value of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of each studied country, the number of in-habitants and its area. Methods: Cluster analysis. The research based on the data provided by Euro-stat. Findings & Value added: The division of the studied region into subgroups de-pends on how the RES energy production is related to the GDP value, the number of inhabitants and the area of individual country. This reference allows to reflect the specificity of individual countries in more appropriate way than just an analysis of the absolute values of this production. The applied approach allows for a broad-er look at RES production for selected countries in the region. The obtained results can be used for the development of a common energy and climate policy to create and develop their own renewable energy markets.

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