Energy consumption increases by 9% in Q1

Total energy consumption in the country from January to March was 404 petajoule (PJ), which was nine per cent higher than in the corresponding period in 2017, according to Statistics Finland's preliminary data.

Electricity consumption amounted to 26 terawatt hours (TWh), which was seven per cent more than one year earlier. Carbon dioxide emissions of the energy sector rose by 18 per cent year-on-year.

The cold weather in the early part of the year increased particularly the consumption of fossil fuels.

The consumption of peat went up by as much as 47 per cent. However, wood fuels remained the most significant fuel with their 25 per cent share in total energy consumption.

The volume of electricity produced with hydro power was 30 per cent higher than in January to March 2017. Net imports of electricity fell by three per cent and accounted for 20 per cent of total electricity consumption.

Electricity produced with nuclear energy increased by 10 per cent and its share of all domestic electricity production stood at seven per cent. The production of solar power almost quadrupled, but its share of electricity production was still extremely small.

In January to March, diverse energy products were imported into Finland to the value of EUR 2.7 billion, which was 16 per cent more than one year earlier.

Most energy products were imported from Russia, whose share of the value of imports was 63 per cent. Energy products were exported to the value of EUR 1.3 billion, which was 19 per cent more than one year previously. Most energy products were exported from Finland to EU countries, which accounted for 77 per cent of the value of exports.

Stocks of coal amounted to 10.7 TWh at the end of March, which was 26 per cent less than one year earlier. At the end of March, it was estimated that the peat stocks contained 1.3 TWh of energy peat, or 88 per cent less than one year earlier.