Total electricity generation in Russia for 2020 decreased by 3% year-on-year to 1,063.7 billion kWh, energy consumption by 2.3% to 1,050.4 billion kWh, according to the recent issue of AK&M Information Agency's "RUSSIAN INDUSTRIES: PRODUCTION, FINANCE, SECURITIES. Electric Power Industry" monthly paper (No. 1409) dated February 10, 2021.
In January 2021, Russia generated 107.1 billion kWh of electricity exceeding the previous year's result by 4.8%. Electricity consumption in January amounted to 104.7 billion kWh (+4.1% YoY). According to the 2021 forecast presented by Russian Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Snikkars, energy consumption in Russia will reach the 2019 level this year or possibly exceed it by about 0.5%.
In 2020, the share of renewable energy sources in total electricity generation in Europe exceeded the contribution of fossil fuels for the first time ever. According to a report by the UK-based Ember think tank and the Germany's Agora Energiewende institute tracking the current state of the EU energy sector since 2015, renewable sources accounted for 38% of all electricity last year, while the share of fossil fuels was 37%. The highest shares of wind and solar power generation were in Denmark (61%), Ireland (35%), Germany (33%) and Spain (29%).
In 2020, electricity exports from Russia decreased by 39.6% year-on-year to 12.1 billion kWh, according to data from the Federal Customs Service. Electricity imports also decreased by 14.9% YoY in physical terms, by 33.3% in value terms. According to current data of the Central Dispatching Department of the Fuel and Energy Complex, electricity exports from Russia in January 2021 increased by 0.9% YoY to 2.4 billion kWh.
In 2020, Russian nuclear power plants generated 215.746 billion kWh of electricity exceeding the 1988 record. This is 103.92% of the target level set by Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia), which is 207.614 billion kWh. According to upd ated data, nuclear power plants accounted for 20.28% in the energy balance of Russia in 2020 against 19.04% in in 2019. This January, Russian NPPs increased electricity generation by 2.1% year-on-year to almost 19.4 billion kWh. The target level se t by FAS Russia was exceeded by 3.4%. This will make it possible to reduce the growth of free market electricity prices for consumers by about 2%, experts say.
An in-depth segment review is provided in issue 1409 of the "RUSSIAN INDUSTRIES: PRODUCTION, FINANCE, SECURITIES. Electric Power Industry" monthly paper dated February 10, 2021.