Energy consumption fell by 7% in the first half of 2012

15. November 2012

Large drop in consumption of coal and coke, while consumption of renewable energy has gone up.

Observed energy consumption fell in the first half of by 7.1% compared with the first half of 2011. Compared with the same quarters last year, in Q1 2012 energy consumption fell by 8.5%, while it fell by 5.5% in Q2.

Denmark was a net importer of electricity in the first half of 2012, in contrast to the first half of 2011, when Denmark was a net exporter. This has meant a marked drop in electricity production in the first half of 2012 and therefore in fuel consumption at the Danish power plants.
Adjusted for fuel consumption linked to foreign trade in electricity, energy consumption fell by 2.9% in the first half of 2012..

Fig. 1: Energy production and consumption Q1 and Q2 2011 and 2012

Unit TJ Primary energy production Actual energy consumption Adjusted for netimport of electrilcity Q1 and Q2 430,705 386,724 396,180 Q1 and Q2 463,829 416,332 408,132 Q1 215,173 208,585 207,251 Q1 228,295 227,889 216,270 Q2  215,531 178,139 188,929 Q2  235,534 188,443 191,861
In Q1 , observed consumption of oil, natural gas and coal/coke fell by 5.3%, 16.5% and 28.4% respectively compared with Q1 2011. Consumption of renewable energy rose by 4.8%. The large fall in consumption of coal/coke and natural gas can be explained by a fall in domestic electricity production for which coal is a dominant fuel. At the same time, the weather was milder in Q1 2012 than in 2011 in terms of number of degree days.

In Q2 consumption of oil and coal/coke fell by 7.1% and 36.8% respectively compared with the same quarter last year. Consumption of natural gas and renewable energy rose by 1.3% and 3.1% respectively. The large drop in consumption of coal/coke is again attributable to a considerable fall in domestic electricity production.

Primary energy production was 7.1% lower in the first half of 2012 than in the first half of 2011. This is attributable to decreases in crude oil and natural gas production of 8.2% and 9.5% respectively. In Q1 and Q2 2012, primary energy production fell by 5.7% and 8.5% respectively. In both quarters production of both crude oil and natural gas fell. 

Fig. 2. Observed energy consumption in Denmark, PJ

Monthly Statistics

Jane Rusbjerg
Specialkonsulent
Center for Klima og Energiøkonomi
Tlf.: 33 92 68 36
jru@ens.dk

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