Electricity production and consumption in Europe, in the project countries and in Romania before and after the pandemic

Gross electricity product by fuel, �EU, 2000 and 2019 (GWh)

Gross electricity product by fuel, �EU, 2000 - 2019 (GWh)

Solid based fuels

The solid fuels based electricity production, meaning the burning of coal in various forms to turn it into energy, has been reduced to half during 2000 - 2019.

This was aimed mainly to reduce carbon emissions in the area. Also, its efficiency is low and the exploitation methods – very old.

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Peat and peat products

Peat forms when plant material does not fully decay in acidic and anaerobic conditions. In certain circumstances, peat can be an early stage in coal formation.

Recently, peat has been used for electricity generation in small units. 

Oil shale and oil sands

Oil shale is a fine-grained sedimentary rock containing large amounts of organic matter (kerogen), which contains substantial quantities of hydrocarbons.

Tar sands (also known as oil sands) are a mixture of mostly sand, clay, water, and a thick substance called bitumen.

Their exploitation and use to generate electricity are massive sources of pollution, that’s why the controversy over it is active.

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Oil and petroleum products

Petroleum products are derived from crude oil (petroleum) as it is processed in oil refineries. The majority of petroleum is used to produce several classes of fuels. Only tar is used to produce electricity.

This industry was reduced to 1/3 of its value, because of the huge negative effects on the environment.

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Natural gas and manufactured gases

Natural gas is a mixture of hydrocarbons (methane, ethane and others) that occurs beneath the surface of the Earth.

Manufactured gas is derived mainly from coal and petroleum.

Despite its mostly negative effects for the nature we can see a big increase in its use for electricity generation, because it is the less polluting fossil fuel.

Nuclear heat

Nuclear power is the conversion of nuclear energy into heat, which can produce electricty with high yield.

Nuclear heat electricity generation has been reduced by at least 20% due to the risk of accidents, after Chernobyl (1986) and Fukushima (2011) disasters.

The nuclear waste storage and neutralisation processes are very expensive, as well.

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Renewables&biofuels

Renewables are: hydropower, solar heat, wind energy, geothermal heat, ocean water energy (wave, tidal, ocean currents).

Biofuels are obtained from vegetal substances, like: rape, corn, sugar cane and others.

Their use has exploded since the policies to encourage green energy were adopted. They are environmentally friendly, in general.

Non renewable waste

Residual waste – waste which cannot be reused, recycled or recovered – forms the lowest aspect of the waste hierarchy and is normally destined for landfill.

However, new technologies are being developed to allow the incineration of residual waste to produce electricity and heat.

We have more and more waste, so the electricity generation almost doubled.

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Electricity consumption and trade, 2019 (GWh)�- before pandemic -

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As we can see in the table, Italy has the highest electricity net imports and consumption. It has a big population, a wide area, and large electricity imports from the neighbouring countries. Malta is a really small size island state, which can’t obviously import much energy from other countries.

Spain has the lowest percentage of energy imports/consumption, and Malta – the highest one. Latvia and Italy have high percentages, as well. Romania is close to Spain. Spain, Romania and Portugal have more energy resources on their own, while Malta and Latvia have less.

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In 2017, space and water heating were major areas of household energy consumption. While in some countries, electricity is the main source for it, other countries (like Romania) are using gas or wood, hot waters or coal to heat their houses.

Electricity consumption is vital for lighting, cooling and for cooking (some use electricty - others use gas or even woodfire, in the countryside).

Romania had the lowest household electricity consumption per capita in the EU.

One cause is that electricity is quite expensive in our country.

Another cause is that we use for heating (that is the biggest amount of energy spent in a household) mostly gas and wood, and less electricity.

Average Romanian lifestyle is not so technology addicted as in the other countries.

Most of the Romanians try to keep their electricity bills at the smallest levels.

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source: Eurostat

Electricity spot production for Romania - MW (15.11.2021, 14.03)

In Romania, current situation (last Monday) was as follows:

• Oil and gas were the main electricity sources, then hydropower and nuclear, 20% or more each.
• Coal is still an important electricity source – has to be dropped (on European level)
• The sun, wind and biomass energy form together 1/5 of the electricity mix.

Romania - consumption

• The electrictiy, fuel and gas prices are rising in Romania, too.
• All Romanian households had to opt for a fixed electricity price, in the beginning of 2021. Some of the consummers haven’t done it yet, because it is a difficult, time-consumming procedure. For them, the electricty price will rise to the market values.
• Moreover, the second reactor of the Cernavoda nuclear powerplant stopped due to an unexpected technical failure. The first reactor, the oldest one, is scheduled for a planned two years maintenance in the following years. This would affect seriously our energy balance, stressing more on the electricity imports or the need for new renewable energy facilities.

Conclusions

• Natural gas consumption is bigger now, being the most reliable source of electricity, from all non-renewables. The bad thing is that Europe depends on the gas imports from the Russian Federation, which is a political instrument for their interests
• Many European countries import electricity from their neighbours, being interconnected in the electricity flow
• Renewable energies and bio-fuels generate 4X more electricity than in 2000 – we need even more development in this area!
• Non renewable waste electricity generation has risen, too, and this is a positive fact.
• All the electricity bills in Europe have risen, but this affects mostly the people with lower income – many of the Romanians, among them.

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