Electricity demand in Poland returned to growth in January, recovering from a short-lived decline in December, according to grid operator PSE.
Demand grew by more than 2.7pc compared with a year earlier to 14.9TWh in January, the strongest monthly year-on-year growth since August (see table). Strong consumption in January continues the overall trend in 2015, when consumption grew by 1.7pc to more than 161.4TWh.
Polish demand recorded year-on-year growth in every month of 2015 with exception of January and December, when consumption was subdued by mild weather.
Electricity generation rose by more than 3pc compare with a year earlier to over 15TWh last month, marking 12 consecutive months of year-to-year growth.
Coal-fired power plants were main driver of output growth in January, producing nearly 8.1TWh, up by 13pc from a year earlier. Coal's share of total Polish production rose to 55pc in the system generators sector, and nearly 60pc including industrial power plants — which mainly produce power and heat for in-house needs of large manufacturing plants, but also sell to the grid.
Power production by lignite plants — the second-largest source of power in Poland — fell by nearly 11pc compared with January 2015 to less than 4.1TWh. Wind generation, the third-largest source of electricity, rose by a modest 1.2pc to more than 1.1 TWh.
Poland was net exporter of electricity for a fifth consecutive month in January, with net exports of 103GWh, nearly double the amount a year earlier, but down by 59pc from December.
Polish power balance | GWh | ||
Jan | Jan 15 | ±% | |
Total production | 15,003.0 | 14,557.0 | 3.1 |
Hydro | 174.0 | 270.0 | -35.6 |
Coal | 8,098.0 | 7,162.0 | 13.1 |
Lignite | 4,083.0 | 4,583.0 | -10.9 |
Gas | 492.0 | 438.0 | 12.5 |
Other renewable | 12.0 | 6.0 | 96.8 |
Wind | 1,162.0 | 1,148.0 | 1.2 |
Industrial Power | 981.0 | 951.0 | 3.2 |
Net import/export | -103.0 | -53.0 | 93.5 |
Total consumption | 14,900.0 | 14,504.0 | 2.7 |