Electricity consumption falls by 2 per cent, production by 18 per cent in November

Estonia’s domestic electricity consumption fell by two per cent this November as compared with last year to 716 gigawatt-hours, and production by 18 per cent to 777 gigawatt-hours.

The fall in production was the result of lower exchange prices in the Estonian price area and transmission capacity constraints on the Estonia-Latvia border.

The Estonian transmission system had a surplus for 64 per cent of last month, and was in deficit for 36 per cent of the time. Overall, production exceeded consumption by 60 gigawatt-hours. Electricity transit flows passing through Estonia grew by 29 per cent to a total of 350 gigawatt-hours.

Production from renewable sources rose by 13 per cent year-on-year. Favourable wind conditions were responsible for the growth in output, which saw electricity production increases of 48 per cent over November 2014. Production from hydro energy and biomass sources fell by 19 and 8 per cent respectively. Renewable energy production totalled 130 gigawatt-hours in November, of which 50 per cent came from wind sources, 49 per cent from biomass, and one per cent from hydro energy sources. Electricity produced from renewable sources accounted for 16.5 per cent of domestic consumption.

In Latvia, production increased by 33 per cent to a total of 571 gigawatt-hours. Consumption fell by two per cent to 616 gigawatt-hours, lowering the power deficit of 198 gigawatt-hours in November of last year to 45 gigawatt-hours. Domestic producers in Latvia covered 93 per cent of domestic consumption, while the remaining seven per cent was imported via Estonia.

In Lithuania, production increased by eight per cent and consumption fell three per cent. In November, the deficit fell by seven per cent to 685 gigawatt-hours. The share of electricity produced within Lithuania for domestic consumption totalled 26 per cent. To cover Lithuania’s deficit, 54 per cent of the balance of energy required was imported via Latvia, and 46 per cent of imports came from third countries.

The deficit in the electricity balance in the Baltic States amounted to 670 gigawatt-hours in November this year, which represents a fall of six per cent compared with the same time last year. This November, the deficit amounted to 30 per cent of electricity consumption in the three states. A total of 55 per cent of the deficit in the Baltics was covered through imports from the Nordic States, and 45 per cent by imports from third countries. 

In the Nordic States, both electricity consumption as well as production remained at approximately the same level as last year. Production was two per cent higher than consumption, and the electricity balance surplus totalled 829 gigawatt-hours. In Sweden and Norway, production was 11 per cent higher than consumption. Denmark and Finland covered 86 and 80 per cent of their consumption respectively through domestic production.

A full-length summary of the transmission system in November can be found here.