Volume of electricity produced with renewable energy sources at record level

The production of electricity in Finland amounted to 66.2 TWh in 2015. The production grew by one per cent from the previous year. The amount of electricity produced with renewable energy sources was bigger than ever, 29.5 TWh which is 45 per cent of total electricity production. Production of district heat and industrial heat decreased slightly. The use of fossil fuels diminished, as 29 per cent less hard coal and 15 per cent less natural gas was used than in 2014. The use of peat fell by five per cent. These data derive from the statistics on the production of electricity and heat compiled by Statistics Finland.

Electricity generation by energy source in 2000 to 2015

In 2015, the production of electricity in Finland amounted to 66.2 terawatt hours (TWh) or billion kilowatt hours (kWh). The production went up by one per cent from the year before. In turn, total electricity consumption went down by one per cent and amounted to 82.5 TWh. Of total electricity consumption, 80 per cent was covered by domestic production and 20 per cent by net imports of electricity from the Nordic countries, Russia and Estonia. Net imports of electricity declined by nine per cent from the year before. Thirty-two per cent of domestic electricity production was based on combined heat and power production.

Electricity and heat production by production mode in 2015

	Electricity, GWh	District heat, GWh	Industrial heat, GWh	Fuels used, TJ ¹⁾
Separate production of electricity
- Hydro power	16,584	-	-	-
- Wind power	2,327	-	-	-
- Solar power	10	-	-	-
- Nuclear power	22,326	-	-	-
- Condensing power ²⁾	4,062	-	-	42,393
- Total	45,309	-	-	42,393
Combined heat and power production	20,846	24,473	42,869	382,098
Separate heat production	-	10,558	8,975	78,692
Total production	66,155	35,031	51,844	503,183
Net imports of electricity	16,337	-	-	-
Total	82,492	35,031	51,844	503,183

1) In calculating total primary energy used, hydro power, wind power, solar power and net imports of electricity are made commensurate with fuels according to directly obtained electricity (3.6 PJ/TWh). Total nuclear energy used is calculated at the efficiency ratio of 33 per cent from produced nuclear power (10.91 PJ/TWh).
2) Condensing power includes condensing power plants, shares of condensing electricity of combined heat and power production plants, and peak gas turbines and similar separate electricity production plants.

Of all electricity production, 29.5 TWh were produced with renewable energy sources, which is the biggest amount ever. Forty-five per cent of electricity production was covered with renewable energy sources, which is the largest share since the 1970s. Over one-half of the electricity produced with renewable energy sources was produced with hydro power, nearly one-tenth with wind power and almost all of the remainder with wood-based fuels. Hydro power was used for producing 16.6 TWh of electricity. More electricity than this has been produced with hydro power only in 2008 and 2012. Seventeen per cent of electricity was produced with fossil fuels, four per cent with peat and 34 per cent with nuclear power.

In 2015, the amount of electricity produced with renewable energy sources increased by 17 per cent from 2014 because the amount of electricity produced with hydro power grew by one-quarter and that produced with wind power more than doubled. Correspondingly, the amount of electricity produced with wood decreased by four per cent. The amount of electricity produced with renewable energy sources varies by year mainly due to hydro power production, but its trend has been rising in recent years. The amount of electricity produced with fossil fuels declined by 23 per cent from the year before, as the amount produced with hard coal fell by 35 per cent and that produced with natural gas by 6 per cent. The use of fossil fuels varies yearly by the use of hard coal in particular, but its trend has been falling in recent years. In recent years, the use has, however, decreased as a whole. The amount of electricity produced with peat decreased by nine per cent from the year before. The use of peat has annual variation due to the weather dependency of peat production, but its share of the produced electricity has remained at around five per cent in recent years.

The production of district heat totalled 35.0 TWh in 2015. The production went down from the year before. The use of renewable fuels in the production of district heat grew by five per cent from the year before. Nearly one-half of district heat was produced with fossil fuels, whose use fell, however, by 14 per cent from one year ago. Most of district heat was produced with wood fuels and hard coal.

The production of industrial heat was 51.8 TWh in 2015. The production went down slightly from the year before. Over 70 per cent of heat produced for the needs of industry was based on renewable fuels. The biggest users of industrial heat is the forest industry, which uses its own fuels in production, like black liquor and other wood fuels. In the chemical and metal industries, part of the use of heat is considered as direct fuel use, and is thus not visible in the production figures on heat.

The statistics on the production of electricity and heat cover the entire production of electricity connected to the grid. The coverage of the statistics has been improved by adding district heat production plants. Therefore, the figures are not fully comparable with the statistics for previous years. Solar power and small CHP have also been added for the first time in the statistics. The statistics do not cover small heat plants nor small-scale industrial heat production.

Links:

Statistics Finland's electricity and heat production inquiry

Finnish Energy Industries http://energia.fi/ajankohtaista_ja_materiaalipankki/tilastot/sahkotilastot

Source: Statistics on production of electricity and heat, Statistics Finland and Electricity statistics, Finnish Energy Industries

Inquiries: Minna Niininen 029 551 3549, Sami Hautakangas 029 551 3791, energia@stat.fi

Director in charge: Ville Vertanen

Publication in pdf-format (334.3 kB)

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Appendix tables

Appendix table 1. Electricity and heat production by production mode and fuel in 2015 (2.11.2016)

Figures

Appendix figure 1. Electricity generation by energy source 2015 (2.11.2016)
Appendix figure 2. Electricity generation with renewables 2015 (2.11.2016)
Appendix figure 3. Electricity generation by production mode 2000-2015 (2.11.2016)
Appendix figure 4. Electricity generation with renewables 2000-2015 (2.11.2016)
Appendix figure 5. District heat production by fuels 2000-2015 (2.11.2016)
Appendix figure 6. Industrial heat production by fuels 2000-2015 (2.11.2016)
Appendix figure 7. Fuel use in separate electricity production 2014-2015 (2.11.2016)
Appendix figure 8. Fuel use in combined heat and power production 2014-2015 (2.11.2016)
Appendix figure 9. Fuel use in separate heat production 2014-2015 (2.11.2016)

Updated 2.11.2016

Referencing instructions:

Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Production of electricity and heat [e-publication].
ISSN=1798-5099. 2015. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 20.4.2024].
Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/salatuo/2015/salatuo_2015_2016-11-02_tie_001_en.html