Romania's energy resources fall in 2012, but wind energy output shoots up

Romania's total energy resources fell in 2012, compared to the previous year. The total primary energy resources fell by 2.2 percent from 2011 to just over 34 billion tonnes of oil equivalent (toe). Domestic energy production also fell, by 2.7 percent to some 22.7 billion toe, while imports dropped by 1.2 percent to around 11.2 billion toe, according to the latest figures from Romania's national statistics office (INS).

Meanwhile, final consumption of electrical energy was just under 53 billion KWh – 0.2 percent higher than in 2011. Public lighting consumption increased by 4.5 percent, while the population's consumption rose by 2.1 percent.

By energy type, imports of coal and energy from hydroelectric, nuclear and electric were up in 2012. Domestic natural gas production also climbed very slightly, by 0.1 percent. Meanwhile, all other categories of energy resources, including oil, were down, for both production and import. The 2.7 percent reduction in electrical energy resources last year to 60.4 billion KWh was mainly due to a fall in domestic production, according to INS. Energy production from thermal, hydroelectric and nuclear powers stations was down, but wind energy shot up. The production of wind power stations last year was 2.6 billion KWh – an increase of almost 1.4 billion KWh on 2011, taking wind power's slice of the total electrical energy pie for 2 percent to 4.4 percent. editor@romania-insider.com photo source: photoxpress.com