Wood in energy generation 2015

In 2015, heating and power plants consumed a total of 18.4 million solid cubic metres (35.0 terawatt-hours) of solid wood fuels, representing a decrease of 2% compared to the previous year.

The main solid wood fuel used by the plants was forest chips, the consumption of which decreased by 3% year-on-year to 7.3 million cubic metres. The use of forest chips amounted to 4.8 million cubic metres in the combined heat and power production (–9% year-on-year) and to 2.5 million cubic metres in the generation of heat (+12%). Together with the forest chips burned in small-scale housing (0.7 million cubic metres), the total consumption of forest chips reached 8.0 million cubic metres (–2% year-on-year).

More than half, or 3.9 million cubic metres, of the forest chips consumed by the plants were manufactured from small-sized trees (mainly pruned small-diameter stems and unpruned small-sized trees). The second most common source, 2.4 million cubic metres, was logging residues. The use of stumps as raw material for forest chips came to 0.8 million cubic metres.

Plants consumed the same amount of forest industry by-products and wood residues than in the previous year, a total of 10.2 million cubic metres. The main material used in burning was bark, accounting for almost 70%, or 6.9 million cubic metres, of by-product wood. Proportionally, the greatest decrease in the consumption of different types of solid wood fuels (–11%) was seen in the consumption of recycled wood.

The consumption of solid wood fuels was highest in the Central Finland region, where most of the forest chips were also burned. Most of the by-product wood and wood residues from the forest industries was burned in South Karelia.