29.01.2019 09:49
Production of electricity down by 6 per cent last year, consumption up by 3 per cent
Last year, 10.6 terawatt-hours of electricity was produced in Estonia, which was 6 per cent less than in 2017, when output stood at 11.2 terawatt-hours. Production fell above all due to non-renewable (fossil) sources, where electricity production costs were affected by the rise in the price or carbon dioxide emission allowances.
Three per cent more electricity was consumed in Estonia last year compared to 2017, up from 8.5 terawatt-hours to 8.7 terawatt-hours. Consumption of electricity rose significantly in February and March last year, when the air temperature was lower than the multi-year average, and in the summer months.
Overall for the year, 1.9 terawatt-hours more electricity was produced than was consumed in Estonia.
Production of renewable energy grew year-on-year by 1 per cent, reaching 1.7 terawatt-hours, and non-renewable production fell by 7 per cent to 8.9 terawatt-hours. The power generated from renewable sources made up 17.1 per cent of total consumption for the year.
Compared to 2017, 51 per cent more electricity flowed into the Estonian transmission network than in 2017 – 3.5 terawatt-hours. The quantity of electricity that flowed from Estonia to neighbouring countries grew 6 per cent to 5.4 terawatt-hours. Transit flows passing through the Estonian electricity system made up 3.2 terawatt-hours, growing by 46 per cent compared to 2017.
In Latvia, power production fell by 12 per cent to 6.5 terawatt-hours, while consumption rose 2 per cent to 7.3 terawatt-hours. Close to 88 per cent of consumption was covered from domestic Latvian production. Overall for the year, Latvia’s power balance had a shortfall of 0.9 terawatt-hour.
In Lithuania, power production grew by close to one-third to 3.2 terawatt-hour and consumption rose 17 per cent to 12.2 terawatt-hour. For the year as a whole, the country’s power balance was 8.9 terawatt-hours in the red, with domestic production covering slightly over one quarter of the consumption volume.
In the Baltics altogether, power production fell by four per cent to 20.3 terawatt-hours last year, and consumption increased by 8 per cent to 28.2 terawatt-hours. The deficit in the electricity balance for the three countries deepened by 3 terawatt-hours over the year and the total deficit for the year was 7.9 terawatt-hours, which is 28 per cent of total consumption.
In the Nordics, last year's power production was on par with 2017 – 397.5 terawatt-hours. Consumption grew by 2 per cent to 393 terawatt-hours and the power balance thus worked out to a 4.5-terawatt-hour surplus. However, the surplus was only 40 per cent of the figure for 2017. By country, Sweden and Norway produced 18.8 and 10.3 terawatt-hours more electricity than they consumed, respectively, while Finland and Denmark were in the red with deficits of 20 and 5 terawatt-hours, respectively.