Electricity Production Up Nine Percent, Consumption Up Two Percent in June

June’s electricity production grew by 9 percent and consumption by 2 percent, year on year. Domestic production reached 817 gigawatt-hours in June, while consumption reached 544 gigawatt-hours.

The main reason for the increase in electricity production was the slight growth in electricity exports compared to the same period of last year, supported by the continuing low price of carbon dioxide quotas.

Commercial exports of electricity grew by 6 percent compared to the previous period, to 421 gigawatt-hours. Export distribution stayed the same as the previous year – 97 percent towards Latvia and 3 percent to Finland. However, electricity imports decreased by 30 percent to 144 gigawatt-hours. Finland accounted for 92 percent of electricity imports in June, while imports on the Estonian-Latvian border accounted for 8 percent.

In Latvia, electricity output grew by 14 percent in June compared to last year, to 368 gigawatt-hours. The output growth was helped by the increased production of hydro energy – the Daugava river’s hydro power plant cascade produced 8 percent more electricity this June than it did a year ago. Despite the increased output, the balance of Latvia’s electrical system remained negative, with a shortfall of 158 gigawatt-hours.

Lithuania saw a decrease in output of 28 percent, to 166 gigawatt-hours. Domestic production managed to cover only 21 percent of consumption in June, so the total shortfall of the electrical system for the month came to 641 gigawatt-hours.

Electricity consumption across the Baltic states grew by 5 percent according to initial data, to 1877 gigawatt-hours. The commercial deficit of the three states combined came to 526 gigawatt-hours in June, despite the relatively high prices that ought to have allowed producers in Latvia and Lithuania to engage additional production facilities. This deficit was 9 percent larger than it was for the same period in the previous year.

The full electricity system report for June is available here (in Estonian).