Baltic Energy Market Interconnection Plan GRIP 2017

2.3 Energy Mix

Natural gas has been an important source of primary energy in all countries in the BEMIP area.

Currently, the highest shares of gas in the energy mix are seen in Denmark, Lithua- nia and Latvia with percentages between 20 and 30%. In Estonia, Finland and Poland the share of natural gas in the energy mix ranges between 5 and 15%. Poland has the highest absolute demand for gas with a yearly consumption of around 195 TWh/y. Also Poland is the only country where gas demand is expected to rise in the future. In the other BEMIP countries, future demand is expected to stabilise or decrease slightly in upcoming years. The main reason for this is the transition from fossil to renewable energy sources in accordance with national ener- gy plans. In general, the countries have a rather diversified energy mix with oil, wood fuels and coal being the major energy sources. Natural gas is typically ranked third or fourth with regard to its share in the national energy mix. However, in Lithuania the share is the second highest after oil, while in Finland and Sweden gas is only ranked fifth in the energy mix. In the region gas is typically used for heating, industrial purposes and households. In some countries natural gas also is an important fuel for power production (and CHP). Figure 2.1 shows the distribution of energy sources in the national energy mixes (2015 Eurostat data).

70 %

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

EU28

Latvia

Poland

Finland

Estonia

Sweden

Denmark

Lithuania

Solid

Petroleum products

Gas

Nuclear

Renewables

Waste (not renewable)

Figure 2.1: Distribution of energy sources in the national energy mixes, in % (Source: Eurostat)

BEMIP Gas Regional Investment Plan 2017 | 13