OREANDA-NEWS. September 16, 2010. The production of electricity from renewable sources in Estonia in 2009 increased nearly threefold compared to the preceding year, Statistics Estonia said.

The main factor behind the rise was the launch of new wood chip powered combined heat and power plants. If until 2007 the share of renewable energy in overall output was around 1 percent, then in 2008 it climbed to 2.1 percent and in 2009 to 6.1 percent. Although the proportion of wind and hydro energy is still relatively small in electricity generation, making up less than 3 percent of total output, a significant development took place in 2009. As a result of the installation of new wind turbines, wind energy production increased by about a half, or 47 percent, compared to 2008, while the production of hydro electricity increased by more than 14 percent.

Total output of electricity in 2009 came to 8,779 gigawatt-hours, which is nearly 17 percent less than in 2008. The decline in electricity production was caused by decreasing demand by the local business sector and a considerable increase in electricity imports compared to exports. Imports more than doubled compared to 2008. At the same time, combined heat and power (CHP) generation increased due to the launch of new plants using local fuel. The share of CHP in total electricity generation increased from 8.6 percent in 2008 to 9.2 percent in 2009. In total heat generation, the share of CHP grew from 27 percent in 2008 to 35 percent in 2009.

Compared to 2008, the production of oil shale declined by about 8 percent due to the decreased needs of power stations. At the same time, due to stable external demand and good weather conditions, the production of other domestic fuels, such as wood and peat, increased. The production of wood pellets was 45 percent bigger than in 2008. Ninety-five percent of the total output of wood pellets was exported, of which 70 percent went to Denmark.

During the last ten years, shale oil has become an important export commodity in the energy market. Shale oil production increased by about 10 percent year-on-year in 2009 and exports of shale oil increased by more than a third, or 35 percent. More than half of the shale oil produced in Estonia was exported, mainly to Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands and Belgium.

Estonia's total imports of energy products decreased 5 percent compared to 2008. Import of natural gas decreased the most, by more than 30 percent, as a result of chemical industry's lower demand for natural gas as raw material.

Imports of liquid fuels decreased due to the decrease in demand, which arose from declined activity by the business sector and the population's decreasing purchasing power. In addition, the new excise duty rates established for liquid fuels in the middle of the year had a negative on the volumes of import of liquid fuels. At the same time, imports of electricity from Lithuania about doubled compared to 2008.