HELSINKI: Total energy consumption in January to March amounted to 387 petajoule (PJ), which was five per cent more than in the corresponding period in 2015, according to Statistics Finland’s preliminary data.
Electricity consumption amounted to 25 terawatt hours (TWh), which is six per cent more than one year earlier. Carbon dioxide emissions of the energy sector rose by eight per cent year-on-year. Colder weather than last year contributed to the rise in energy consumption. Among fuels, the use of peat increased most, by eight per cent in January to March, the statistics show. The second highest rise was recorded in the use of wood fuels, up by four per cent. For natural gas, coal and oil, consumption grew by two per cent.
The use of nuclear energy went up by nine per cent, which was due to the stoppage of the nuclear power unit in last year’s February. In turn, heavy rains increased the production of hydro power by 19 per cent. The growth in wind power production was no longer as strong as before, being nine per cent.
Net imports of electricity rose by five per cent from the respective time period of last year. Imports from Sweden increased by 19 per cent, while imports from Russia contracted by 21 per cent as per the data. In January to March, diverse energy products were imported into Finland to the value of EUR 1.5 billion, which was 35 per cent less than one year earlier. Most energy products were imported from Russia, whose share of the value of imports was 55 per cent. Energy products were exported to the value of EUR 0.7 billion, which was 27 per cent less than one year previously.
Most energy products were exported from Finland to EU countries, which accounted for 86 per cent of the value of exports. The sliding world market price of oil contributed to the reduction in imports and exports of energy products. Stocks of coal amounted to 20 TWh at the end of March, which was 18 per cent less than one year earlier. At the end of March, it was estimated that the peat stocks contained 13 TWh of energy peat, or 20 per cent less than one year earlier
