Latvia uses 36.1% renewables for heat, power generation in 2015

Latvia's heat and power generation sector, which has been traditionally dependent on natural gas, has been increasing its use of renewables, official statistics showed this week.

The share of renewable sources such as fuelwood, biogas and other biomass used in the so-called transformation sector reached 36.1% last year after rising by 19.8% over a five-year period, according to the data. In contrast, the share of natural gas fell to 63.5% in 2015 from 64.3% in 2014 and 81% in 2010.

Demand in the transformation sector reached 50.1 petajoules (PJ) of energy last year, while domestic supply stood at 38.2 PJ, of which 25.5 PJ heat and 12.7 PJ electricity.

Latvia's gross energy consumption amounted to 188.7 PJ in 2015, with fuelwood reaching a share of 30.2%. The gross consumption of other energy resources, including straw, biogas and biofuel increased to 8 PJ in 2015 from 0.7 PJ in 2005.

In the transport sector, the share of biodiesel and bioethanol was 4.1% in 2015, 2.1% more than in the previous year, the report by the Central Statistical Bureau (CSB) shows.

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