In 2021 consumption of renewables 3 % higher than a year ago

Data compiled by the Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia (CSB) show that in 2021 gross consumption of renewable energy resources (renewables) in Latvia amounted to 78.0 petajoules (PJ). Compared to the year before, it has grown by 3 % or 2.3 PJ.

In 2021, the share of fuelwood in the total consumption of renewables constituted 78.6 % (in 2020 – 77.3 %), that of electricity 13.5 %, and biogas proportion was 0.9 percentage points lower than in 2020. The share of biofuel and other energy in the total consumption of renewables comprised 2.6 % and 2.4 %, respectively.

Exports of pelleted wood gone up by 55.3 % over the past five years

During a five-year period (from 2017 to 2021), due to annual fluctuations in the electricity volume produced by hydroelectric power plants, gross consumption of renewables has decreased by 8 % (0.6 PJ). Gross consumption of fuelwood over the period has increased by 5.2 % (3.1 PJ) and reached 62.6 PJ in 2021. Compared to 2020, consumption of fuelwood has risen by 7.1 % (4.1 PJ).  

Last year, 43.7 PJ of pelleted wood were exported, which is 8.3 % (3.3 PJ) more than in 2020. Along with the wide availability of raw materials and global trend towards higher renewables consumption, the exports of pelleted wood have increased by 55.3 % over the last five years.

Transformation sector¹ is the largest consumer of fuelwood – in 2021 it took 39.3 % of the gross fuelwood consumption. Over the period of five years (from 2017 to 2021) fuelwood consumption in the sector has increased by 19.6 % (4 PJ). In its turn, the volume of heat produced by solar collectors in the sector constituted 10 GWh (36 TJ), which is 1 GWh (4 TJ) fewer than a year before.

Households tend to change the fuelwood type used for heating: in 2015 they preferred pelleted wood over wood briquettes, whereas in 2020 consumption of pelleted wood dropped by 9.4 % (193 TJ) while that of briquettes grew by 20.8 % (78 TJ). At the same time, consumption of firewood has remained stable from 2015 to 2021 (decline of only 1.8 % or 300 TJ). In industry and construction, the highest fuelwood consumption was observed in manufacture of wood and of products of wood – 15.4 PJ or 93.6 % of the gross fuelwood consumption in the activities in 2021.

In 2021, compared to 2020, electricity consumption in road transport up by 6.1 %

In 2021 electricity consumption in transport sector constituted 351 TJ, which is 3.5 % (12 TJ) more than in 2020. The upturn may be explained by the greater number of electric vehicles registered and higher population mobility after lifting COVID-19 restrictions. Compared to the year before, electricity consumption in road transport and rail transport grew by 6.1 % (6 TJ) and 4.4 % (10 TJ), respectively. However, electricity consumption in pipeline transport keeps declining, and at the end of 2021 it constituted 11 TJ, which is 26.7 % (4 TJ) fewer than a year before and 3.7 times (30 TJ) fewer than in 2017.

In 2021 biofuel consumption in transport comprised 2.0 PJ, which is 3.7 % (70 TJ) more than in 2020. The rise may be explained by the fact that COVID-19 restrictions were lifted and thus demand for fuel went up, e.g., to travel abroad or within Latvia. Along with the legislation change stipulating higher minimum biofuel blending mandate, consumption of biofuel in transport has gone up 5 times (by 1.6 PJ) over the past five years (from 2017 to 2021).

Electricity generation in biomass and CHP plants up by 50 GWh

In 2021, 5 846 GWh of electricity were generated in Latvia, of which 3 718 GWh were produced from renewables (compared to 2020 the volume has risen by 1.9 %or 68 GWh). Last year, the volume of primary electricity produced by wind power plants constituted 141 GWh, which is a drop of 20.3 % (36 GWh) compared to 2020. Hydroelectric power plants generated 2 708 GWh of electricity (4 % or 105 GWh fewer than a year ago) and solar power plants 7 GWh (2 GWh more).

Combined heat and power plants (CHP) generated 2 990 GWh of electricity, of which 28.8 % from renewables (in biogas and biomass CHP plants), which is 0.6 percentage points fewer than in 2020. In 2021, compared to the year before, the volume of electricity produced by biogas CHP plants fell from 345 GWh to 292 GWh (by 15.4 %) and that generated by biomass power plants and CHP plants grew from 520 GWh to 570 GWh (by 9.6 %).

In terms of highest share of renewables in the final energy consumption Latvia ranks third in the EU

As the gross consumption of renewables is increasing, Latvia is getting closer to the strategic goal of renewable energy sector² – reaching 50 % of renewable energy in gross final energy consumption until 2020. Latvia has the third highest share of renewables in the final energy consumption in the EU (in 2020 the indicator constituted 42.13 % (EU average 22.09 %)). Latvia shall ensure that until 2030 the share of energy from renewable sources consumed in transport constitutes 7 %. In 2020 Latvian indicator comprised 6.73 %³ and EU average 10.22 %. The share of renewable energy in heating, in its turn, constituted 57.1 %, which is the fourth highest indicator in the EU after Sweden (66.4 %), Estonia (58.5 %), and Finland (57.6 %). Renewable energy took 22.1 % of the total energy used for heating and cooling in the EU⁴.

Methodological explanations

¹ Transformation sector includes the volume of energy resources consumed for production and sale of electricity and heat, as well as production of peat briquettes and charcoal.
² Latvia’s National Energy and Climate Plan 2021–2030
³ Calculations are made in the Eurostat tool SHARES.
⁴ Average indicators of 27 EU Member States.

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More information on data:
Sintija Ancāne
Environment and Energy Statistics Section
E-mail: Sintija.Ancane@csp.gov.lv
Phone: +371 67366256