Energy consumption grows by 3% in H1

Total energy consumption in January to June amounted to 675 petajoule (PJ), which was three per cent more than in the corresponding period last year, according to Statistics Finland.

Electricity consumption amounted to 43.9 terawatt hours (TWh), which was five per cent more than one year earlier. Carbon dioxide emissions from the energy use of fuels increased by one per cent year-on-year.

The cold weather conditions in the first quarter had an effect on the growth in total energy consumption.

Among energy sources, the growth was biggest for natural gas, the consumption of which rose by 23 per cent from the previous year’s January to June.

The consumption of peat declined most, by 21 per cent. The consumption of coal grew by seven per cent, which evened out the steep decline that had taken place in the past three years.

The consumption of wood fuels increased by eight per cent from the previous year, when the shutdown in the forest industry in the early part of the year decreased the demand for wood fuels.

Four per cent less electricity was produced with nuclear power than in the previous year. The production of nuclear power was covered by combined heat and power production and imports of electricity.

The volumes of combined production and net imports of electricity grew by 12 and 21 per cent.

Among renewable electricity production, production of hydro power grew by two per cent and production of wind power decreased by 11 per cent.

In January to June, diverse energy products were imported to Finland to the value of EUR 3.8 billion, which was 15 per cent more than one year earlier.

Most energy products were imported from Russia, whose share of the value of imports was 54 per cent.

Energy products were exported from Finland to the value of EUR 1.5 billion. The value of exports decreased by 15 per cent compared to January to June of the previous year. Most energy products were exported to OECD countries, which accounted for 63 per cent of the value of exports.