Wood in energy generation 2020 (provisional)

Forests and forestry

Economy and markets

Statistics

According to the preliminary data of the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), heating and power plants consumed a total of 19.5 million solid cubic metres (37.3 terawatt-hours) of solid wood fuels in 2020, down by 5% from the previous year.
Nearly the same volume of forest chips were consumed as in 2019, a total of 7.5 million solid cubic metres. The consumption of forest chips in the combined production of heat and power was 4.6 million cubic metres, down by 3% from the previous year. Instead, consumption in heat generation increased by 4% to 3.0 million cubic metres. Combined with forest chips burnt in small-scale housing (0.6 million cubic metres), total consumption of forest chips reached 8.1 million cubic metres.
The majority of forest chips was manufactured from small-sized trees, totalling 4.1 million cubic metres. This was 7% higher than in the year before. Instead, the use of logging residues decreased by 14% to 2.5 million cubic metres. The consumption of forest chips chipped from stumps was 0.3 million cubic metres, and that of large-sized, mainly decayed and dead roundwood was 0.6 million cubic metres, being 39% more than in 2019.
A total of 10.7 million cubic metres of forest industry by-products and wood residues were consumed in energy generation. This volume decreased by nearly one million cubic metres, or 8%, from 2019. Bark was consumed the most, totalling 6.6 million cubic metres. The consumption of different types of sawdust was 2.7 million cubic metres and that of industrial chips was 1.3 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.