Had the normal temperatures for the period been registered instead of the warm weather outside, the electrical power consumption of 2011 would have most likely been as high as in 2008, and the highest in two decades.
Data from the national grid company Transelectrica (TEL.RO) show that energy consumption in Romania stood at 59,755 GWh, more than 3% higher than in 2010, but slightly lower than the 60,338 GWh in 2008, a record consumption since 1992.
Analyzing consumption of electrical power is important because this indicator shows how the major industries and the companies that need huge amounts of energy to operate are doing; ultimately the condition of the entire economy.
Whereas consumption peaked in 2008, in 2009 when the country’s economy witnessed its harshest decline caused by the economic crisis, the need for power fell. It started to rebound in 2010 as did the economy, and last year power consumption came closed to 2008 level, according to the data of Transelectrica.
Transelectrica’s deputy general manager Octavian Lohan says the company is still waiting for some data to get a complete picture of last year, but is certain that temperatures in December played a part in keeping consumption from matching the 2008 figures.
Grid company’s data also reveal that electricity consumption in the last month of 2011 was 3% lower than in the same month of 2010.
Compared with 1989 levels, current consumption is 40% lower. The main reason for this steep decline is the de-industrialization of Romania soon after that year.
Other than the higher than normal temperatures at the end of the year, the energy system was also affected by the prolonged drought.
Transelectrica data also show the energy mix changed last year. Whereas almost 36% of the electricity used in 2010 came from hydropower plants, in 2011 Hidroelectrica contributed only 24% because of the severe drought, so that it fell upon the thermal power plants running on coal to make up for the decline, and they generated 42% of the total power, from about 33.8% in 2010.
Green energy produced by wind farms showed up in statistics for the first time last year and contributed 1.9% of the total production. Biomass power plants were included in statistics too, but they only generated 0.24%.
The two reactors of the nuclear power plant in Cernavoda and the gas-powered plants contributed the remaining production (19% and 13%, respectively).
Transelectrica’s estimates point to a 2% increase in power consumption in 2012, a growth below the 2011 rate, because, its official say, last year consumption went back to normal.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)