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[EN13] Efficiency of electricity production
Driving forces

Key message
Bad

Due to a lack of new investments, the efficiency of electricity production and of electricity and heat production is improving too slowly. In 2007, Slovenia produced electricity 8 percentage points less efficiently than the EU-15, and electricity and heat 5 percentage points less efficiently.

The indicator shows the efficiency of electricity production, which is defined as the ratio of gross electricity production to the energy input in the form of fossil fuels (as well as wood biomass and waste). The efficiency of production of electricity and heat is defined as the ratio of gross electricity and heat production to the energy input in the form of fossil fuels (as well as wood biomass and waste). The indicator considers electricity and heat production and the consumption of fossil fuels in public thermal power plants, combined heat and power plants and autoproducers that do not have electricity and heat production as their primary activity.

Charts

Figure EN13-1: Efficiency of electricity and heat production in Slovenia
Sources:

Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, 2009; Jožef Stefan Institute, 2009.

Show data
1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 - 2000
Fuel consumption in thermal power plants and cogeneration plants ktoe 1518 1502 1429 1484 1408 1334 1512 1318 1356
Gross electricity production ktoe 404 405 398 398 388 436 450 415 432
Gross electricity and heat production ktoe 552 556 530 546 544 581 620 577 581
Efficiency of electricity production % 26.6 27 27.8 26.9 27.5 32.7 29.8 31.5 31.9
Efficiency of electricity and heat production % 36.4 37 37.1 36.8 38.6 43.6 41 43.8 42.9
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Fuel consumption in thermal power plants and cogeneration plants ktoe 1492 1566 1497 1512 1514 1560 1603 1613
Gross electricity production ktoe 466 495 486 492 496 514 523 525
Gross electricity and heat production ktoe 619 642 643 653 666 681 685 698
Efficiency of electricity production % 31.2 31.6 32.5 32.5 32.8 32.9 32.6 32.6
Efficiency of electricity and heat production % 41.5 41 43 43.2 44 43.6 42.7 43.3
Figure EN13-2: Efficiency of electricity production in the EU-27 in the 2000-2007 period
Sources:

Eurostat, 2009.

Show data
EU-27 EU-25 EU-15 EU-10 - Luxembourg Hungary Ireland Latvia Lithuania
2000 %/100 0.376 0.381 0.394 0.323 0.333 0.293 0.406 0.22 0.223
2007 %/100 0.384 0.388 0.4 0.334 0.483 0.35 0.46 0.266 0.265
Belgium Spain Romania Cyprus Sweden Estonia Netherlands Italy Bulgaria Slovakia
2000 %/100 0.39 0.411 0.256 0.328 0.244 0.3 0.399 0.405 0.271 0.31
2007 %/100 0.432 0.449 0.292 0.362 0.275 0.324 0.422 0.429 0.294 0.326
Poland Denmark United Kingdom Portugal Slovenia Czech Republic Germany France Austria Greece
2000 %/100 0.337 0.349 0.44 0.421 0.322 0.314 0.37 0.348 0.396 0.362
2007 %/100 0.345 0.356 0.445 0.426 0.323 0.311 0.36 0.335 0.381 0.337
Malta Finland
2000 %/100 0.333 0.407
2007 %/100 0.297 0.368
Figure EN13-3: Efficiency of electricity and heat production in the EU-27 in the 2000-2007 period
Sources:

Eurostat, 2009.

Show data
EU-27 EU-25 EU-15 EU-10 - Italy Lithuania Slovakia Latvia Belgium
2000 %/100 0.456 0.454 0.451 0.471 0.405 0.766 0.46 0.776 0.459
2007 %/100 0.47 0.47 0.47 0.473 0.518 0.875 0.559 0.862 0.515
Ireland Sweden Spain Portugal Cyprus Netherlands Bulgaria Austria Denmark Hungary
2000 %/100 0.406 0.831 0.413 0.442 0.328 0.554 0.415 0.572 0.646 0.491
2007 %/100 0.46 0.869 0.449 0.477 0.362 0.575 0.43 0.584 0.657 0.498
Poland United Kingdom France Slovenia Germany Estonia Czech Republic Finland Greece Malta
2000 %/100 0.468 0.44 0.348 0.437 0.441 0.403 0.472 0.733 0.365 0.333
2007 %/100 0.474 0.445 0.335 0.423 0.421 0.382 0.449 0.709 0.34 0.297
Romania Luxembourg
2000 %/100 0.544 0.693
2007 %/100 0.483 0.584

Goals

- to increase the efficiency of electricity and heat production through technological improvements to the transformations sector, switching of fuel and increased share of combined heat and power (cogeneration).

The indicator provides an indicator of how energy in the shape of fossil fuels (as well as wood biomass and waste) is used for the production of electricity. This enables us to analyse the sector of electricity and heat production, which is one of the largest sources of emissions. The connection between environmental impacts and production efficiency is inversely proportional. The greater the efficiency, the lesser the environmental impacts, as less energy in the form of fossil fuels is required per unit of produced electricity and heat. Consequently, there are less emissions, etc. This is of course true only assuming that electricity production does not change, as with increased production, the consumption of fuel increases regardless of the improved efficiency. Furthermore, we need to consider that SO2 and NOx emissions are influenced by flue gas treatment (desulphurisation, deNOx) and the implementation of primary measures aimed at reducing NOx emissions.

In 2008, the efficiency of electricity production stood at 32.6 % and of electricity and heat production at 43.3 %. Electricity was produced equally efficiently as the year before, while regarded together with heat, efficiency of production increased. Compared to the year 2000, a slight increase in the efficiency of electricity production was noted (by 1 percentage point) as well as in the production of both electricity and heat (by 0.4 of a percentage point). The improved efficiency of electricity production is due to a better utilisation rate of thermal power plants and technological improvements of existing devices. After a longer dry spell, the year 2008 brought a new larger investment, as the Šoštanj Thermal Power Plant was equipped with two new gas turbines. When the second turbine was installed, the power plant's Unit 2 was stopped. The efficiency of heat production strongly depends on the requirement for heat, as with smaller demand, efficiency decreases. In the 2000-2008 period, the year 2005 was the coldest, hence the efficiency the highest. The year 2008 was colder than 2007.

In the future, we anticipate a substantial improvement in efficiency due to the installation of new devices, as two gas turbines, which began a trial operation, were installed in 2008 in the Šoštanj Thermal Power Plant within the framework of technological improvements made to the transformations sector. The installation of new devices is planned to cause a switch towards the use of natural gas, which will additionally increase efficiency, as gas-fired devices have much better utilisation rates. Slight improvements to efficiency will additionally be achieved by the increased share of cogeneration (see EN14 Combined Heat and Power).

One of the instruments aimed at facilitating the efficiency of electricity and heat production is the setting up of the greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme that encourages companies to invest in a more efficient production of electricity and heat by offering them the possibility to purchase additional allowances to emit greenhouse gases. In the initial trading period (2005-2007), the instrument did not have any real impact due to too low prices of allowances available on the market which were the result of a too generous distribution of allowances. Currently, the price of carbon coupons is between EUR 12 and 15/tCO2. Another important instrument is the limit values of air pollutants (SO2, NOx, etc,) from large combustion plants (Decree on Emission Limit Values Discharged into the Atmosphere from Large Combustion Plants), as the fiercer criteria prevent the operation of older and less efficient plants. Other instruments include the environmental permits that facilitate the use of best available technologies (the IPPC Directive) and guaranteed purchase prices for the purchase of electricity from cogeneration (facilitating cogeneration of electricity and heat).

The efficiency of electricity production in Slovenia is comparable to the average efficiency of the EU-10 countries and is 8 percentage points lower than the average efficiency of the EU-15 countries. In Slovenia, the change in efficiency is one percentage point above the EU-10 and EU-15 average. The higher efficiency of the EU-15 countries is predominantly due to a larger share of natural gas in electricity production and newer and more efficient devices used in the production of electricity from coal. As regards electricity and heat production, the situation is slightly better, as Slovenia’s efficiency is 5 percentage points below the EU-15 average. In the last seven years, improvements to efficiency in the production of electricity and heat have been substantially slower than in the EU-15 and even the EU-10 countries.

Methodology

Data for Slovenia and other countries

Objectives summarised by: Resolucija o Nacionalnem energetskem programu (Resolution on the National Energy Programme, Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, No. 57/04).

Source database or source:
Gross electricity production:
Slovenia
- 1992-1995: Filled in Joint Annual Questionnaires submitted to EUROSTAT by the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia
- 1996-2008: SI-STAT data portal available through the website of the Slovenian Statistical Office: Environment and natural resources > Energy > Electricity > Electricity generation, fuel use and net power in public power plants, of autoproducers and small hydro-power plants, Slovenia, annually; (Power plants by plant type + autoproducers) – gross production
EU-27
- Database available on EUROSTAT’s website: Environment and energy > Energy > Energy Statistics – quantities > Energy Statistics – supply, transformation, consumption > Supply, transformation, consumption – electricity – annual data > 101101 Output from conventional thermal power stations
Heat production:
Slovenia
- 1992-1999: Filled in Joint Annual Questionnaires submitted to EUROSTAT by the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia
- 2000-2008: SI-STAT data portal available through the website of the Slovenian Statistical Office: Environment and Natural Resources > Energy > Energy Balance and Energy Indicators > Energy balance (1000 toe), Slovenia, annually (Transformations – combined heat and power plants - Total: Heat)
EU-27
- Database available on EUROSTAT’s website: Environment and energy > Energy > Energy Statistics – quantities > Energy Statistics – supply, transformation, consumption > Supply, transformation, consumption – heat – annual data> 101101 Output from conventional thermal power stations
Consumption of fossil fuels (coal, petroleum products and natural gas) and wood biomass for the production of electricity and heat:
Slovenia
- 1992-1999: The Energy Balance as prepared on the basis of data from the filled in Joint Annual Questionnaires submitted to EUROSTAT by the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia (see EN26)
- 2000-2008: SI-STAT data portal available through the website of the Slovenian Statistical Office: Environment and Natural Resources > Energy > Energy Balance and Energy Indicators > Energy balance (1000 toe), Slovenia, annual. (Transformation – electricity plants, Transformation – autoproducers and Transformation – CHP plants, Transformation – CHP plants – autoproducers)
EU-27
- Database available on EUROSTAT’s website: Environment and energy > Energy > Energy Statistics – quantities > Energy Statistics – supply, transformation, consumption >Supply, transformation, consumption – all products – annual data > 101001 Input to conventional thermal power stations.
Data administrator: the Statistical office of the Republic of Slovenia (Jože Zalar, Mojca Suvorov) or EUROSTAT.
Data acquisition date for the indicator: 27 November 2009
Methodology and frequency of data collection for the indicator: Data are prepared on an annual basis.
Data processing methodology: Efficiency is calculated as the ratio of electricity production or the production of both electricity and heat in thermal power plants to the consumption of fossil fuels, wood biomass or waste. The indicator is expressed in percentage points.
Annual growth is occasionally shown in percentage points. A percentage point is a unit used in comparing different percentages. In percentage points, we are dealing with an absolute comparison calculated using the following formula: (nthis year) – (nlast year) = 16 % – 15 % = 1 pp (e.g. if there was a 15 % growth last year and a 16 % growth this year, then this year growth is 1 percentage point higher). The difference in growth can also be expressed by relative comparison using the following formula: [(nthis year/nlast year) * 100] – 100 = [(16 % / 15 %) * 100] – 100 = 6.7 %. In this case, growth is expressed in percentage points.
Geographical coverage: The EU-27 countries are the EU Member States: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom. The EU-25 countries are the EU Member States excluding Bulgaria and Romania. The EU-15 are the EU Member States prior to enlargement (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom). The EU-10 countries are Member States that acceded to the EU in 2004 (Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia).
Information concerning data quality:
- Advantages and disadvantages of the indicator: The quality of data used for the indicator for the 1992-1999 period is questionable due to changes in the statistical processing of data (e.g. at the beginning of the period, the entire consumption of fuel by autoproducers was included in transformations, while at the end of the period only the part that was intended for the production of electricity and heat intended for sale, which improved the efficiency). This is why only the calculations for the 2000-2008 period have been used in analysing indicator trends.
- Relevance, accuracy, robustness, uncertainty (at data level):
Reliability of the indicator (archival data): Data reliability for the 1992-1999 period is limited due to reasons described above, while data for the 2000-2008 period are reliable, as a single source has been used (the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia) and data have been processed using the same methodology.
Uncertainty of the indicator (scenarios/projections): Scenarios and projections are not available.
- Overall assessment (1 = no major comments, 3 = data to be considered with reservation):
Relevance: 1
Accuracy: 2
Completeness over time: 2
Completeness over space: 1

Other sources and literature:

- EEA, 2007. EN19 Efficiency of conventional thermal electricity production.
- Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning, 2009. Operativni program zmanjševanja emisij toplogrednih plinov do leta 2012 (Operational Programme for Limiting Greenhouse Gas Emissions by 2012).
- Šoštanj Thermal Power Plant, 2009. BilTEŠ - Annual reports.

Last modified
11.09.2009
Author(s)

Matjaž Česen, Jožef Stefan Institute