29.01.2020 15:16
39 per cent less electricity generated in Estonia last year; consumption down 1 per cent
According to Elering data, a total of 6.4 terawatt-hours of electricity was generated in Estonia last year, which is 39 per cent less than the year before. Consumption was also slightly down.
Power generation dropped first and foremost from non-renewable, fossil sources – it was just one-half of the 2018 total. Electricity consumption fell by 1 per cent compared to 2018 – to 8.6 terawatt-hours. January, March and November of 2019 saw significantly higher consumption. Overall for the year ended, 2.2 terawatt-hours more electricity was consumed than was generated in Estonia.
Generation of electricity from renewable sources grew by 17 per cent year-over-year to 1.9 terawatt-hours, while non-renewable production fell by nearly one-half, to 4.5 terawatt-hours. Renewable energy made up 21 per cent of total consumption.
From neighbouring countries, 61 per cent more electricity than in 2018 flowed into the Estonian transmission system. The total was 5.6 terawatt-hours. The amount of electricity flowing out of Estonia to neighbouring countries dropped by 36 per cent, to 3.4 terawatt-hours. Transit flows through the Estonian system were the same as in 2018 – approximately 3.2 terawatt-hours.
In Latvia, electricity generation dropped by 5 per cent last year – to 6.1 terawatt-hours – while consumption dropped by 2 per cent and stood at 7.2 terawatt-hours. A total of 85 per cent of the consumption was covered from Latvian domestic generation, and overall for the year, the Latvian electricity balance ran a deficit of 1.1 terawatt-hour.
In Lithuania, power generation grew by 12 per cent to 3.6 terawatt-hours and consumption rose by 1 per cent to 13 terawatt-hours. For 2019 as a whole, the Lithuanian power balance had a deficit of 9.3 terawatt-hours and domestic generation covered one-quarter of consumption.
In the Baltics as a whole, generation dropped by 20% compared to 2018, to 16.2 terawatt-hours. Consumption remained at the same level as the year before – 28.8 terawatt-hours. The deficit in the electricity balance of the three countries became deeper over the year, by 4 terawatt-hours, and the total deficit for the year as a whole was 12.6 terawatt-hours – 43 per cent of total consumption.
In the Nordics, 2 per cent less electricity was produced year-over-year in 2019 – generation fell to 387.8 terawatt-hours. Consumption shrank to 386.9 terawatt-hours – a decline of 2 per cent – which meant that generation and consumption were nearly in balance.
Viewed by country, Sweden generated 26.3 terawatt-hours more power than it consumed, while Finland again ran a deficit, of 20 terawatt-hours this time, Denmark had a deficit of 5.6 terawatt-hours, and Norway’s deficit in 2019 was 95 terawatt-hours, a shift from 2018 when it had a surplus of 10.3 terawatt-hours.