Wood in energy generation 2019 (provisional)

According to the preliminary data of the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), heating and power plants consumed a total of 20.5 million solid cubic metres (39.4 terawatt-hours) of solid wood fuels in 2019, being 2% more than in the previous year and more than ever before.

The consumption of forest chips increased by 2% from the previous year to 7.6 million cubic metres. The consumption of forest chips in the combined production of heat and power was at the previous year’s level, totalling 4.7 million cubic metres. In heat production, consumption increased by 6% to 2.8 million cubic metres. Together with forest chips burned in small-scale housing (0.6 million cubic metres), the total consumption of forest chips amounted to 8.2 million cubic metres.

In 2019, a total of 3.9 million cubic metres of small-sized trees were used as raw material for forest chips, being at the previous year’s level. Instead, the consumption of logging residues increased by 7% to 2.9 million cubic metres, being the highest volume ever recorded in the statistics. The consumption of forest chips manufactured from stumps was 0.3 million cubic metres and that of large-sized, mainly decayed and dead roundwood was 0.4 million cubic metres.

The consumption of forest industry by-products and wood residues was 11.6 million cubic metres, being roughly at the 2018 level. Bark was consumed the most, totalling 7.9 million cubic metres. The consumption of different types of sawdust in energy generation was 2.4 million cubic metres and that of industrial chips 1.2 million cubic metres. In addition, the consumption of recycled wood totalled 1.1 million cubic metres and that of wood pellets and briquettes 0.2 million cubic metres.

The data presented herein is preliminary. The publication date for final data on the use of wood in energy generation is presented in the Release calendar of Luke’s statistics.