Renewable energy surpasses fossil fuels, peat consumption

The total consumption of energy in 2020 amounted to 1.28 million terajoules (TJ), which corresponded to a drop of six per cent compared with the previous year, according to Statistics Finland.

The volume of energy produced by incineration decreased clearly.

By contrast, renewable production of hydro, wind and solar power increased. Carbon dioxide emissions from the energy use of fuels decreased by 10 per cent. Total electricity consumption fell to its lowest in 20 years.

The use of renewable energy sources decreased by one per cent in 2020, but their share of total energy consumption grew to 40 per cent.

For the first time since the compilation of the energy statistics started, the consumption of renewable energy was higher than the consumption of fossil fuels and peat combined.

The consumption of wood fuels fell by six per cent. The fall was fairly even in all wood fuel categories and was due to the warm weather and the contraction of output in the forest industry.

The consumption of black liquor declined most, by seven per cent. Wood fuels covered 28 per cent of total energy consumption and they were the most used energy source in Finland.

Among other renewable energy sources, production of hydro power grew by 28 per cent and production of wind power by 30 per cent.

The consumption of biogas declined by three per cent.

The use of fossil fuels and peat went down by 10 per cent compared to 2019. Their share of total energy consumption decreased to 37 per cent. The drop was biggest for peat, the consumption of which fell by one quarter.

The consumption of coal also decreased significantly, by 22 per cent. The ban on the use of hard coal for energy production, which will enter into force in 2029, is already beforehand affecting the decrease of coal consumption. Due to the effects of the corona virus, the consumption of transport fuels, which is usually quite stable, decreased, which was visible as a six per cent drop in the consumption of fossil oil.

In 2020, as much electricity was produced in Finland as one year earlier, that is, 66 TWh.

However, total electricity consumption declined by six per cent and was 81 TWh. A lower total consumption of electricity was last recorded in 2000.

Final consumption of energy went down as a whole by six per cent. The fall was biggest in industry, seven per cent. The share of industry in total final consumption stood at 45 per cent.

The consumption of heating energy for buildings and energy consumption in transport decreased by six per cent each. The share of heating energy for buildings was 26 per cent and that of energy consumption in transport 17 per cent of final energy consumption.

Last year, diverse energy products were imported into Finland to the value of EUR 6.7 billion, which was 36 per cent less 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 3.9 billion. The value of exports decreased by 32 per cent compared to the previous year. Most energy products were exported to OECD countries, which accounted for 74 per cent of the value of exports.