Total final energy consumption (TFEC) refers to the energy consumed by end-users, such as households, industry and transport, while it excludes the energy used by the energy sector itself.
Between 2012 and 2016, as well as between 2000 and 2010, TFEC in SEE experienced stable growth rates. The residential sector is the largest consumer, with a 32% share of TFEC by 2016, and represents a significant opportunity to achieve energy savings (REN21/UNECE, 2015).
Over the same two periods, energy consumption in the transport sector rose strongly, reaching 30% of TFEC in 2017. Cumulatively, the industrial, transport and residential sectors accounted for 87% of TFEC that year (Figure 2.5).
Bioenergy is the most common form of renewable energy used by final consumers, mainly in residential
heating. The three most relevant sectors are analysed in detail in the sections below.
Currently, final energy consumption levels per capita diverge strongly throughout the region (Figure 2.6) but are mostly well below the EU average.
Figure 2.5 Final energy consumption by sector, SEE, 2017
Source: IRENA (2019a)
32%
Residential
2 719 PJ
30%
Transport
25%
Industry
3%
Others
10%
Services
4 0
02
INDUSTRY
The main energy types employed in SEE’s industrial sector are electricity and natural gas, followed by oil and coal (Figure 2.7).
Industrial consumption ranges, between economies, from 17.5% (Croatia) and 28% (Bulgaria) of the TFEC. Industrial processes have been increasingly electrified in all the economies of SEE, with the share of electricity in total energy demand increasing from 17% in 1990 to 31.5% in 2017. Low electricity prices resulting from lignite, hydro and nuclear generation
have strengthened this trend. The rising market share taken by electricity was also at the expense of gas, which saw its sectoral share of TFEC decline steadily over the same period, from 50% to 30%. As domestic gas reserves have been rapidly declining, rising prices have made it unattractive for industries to rely on the fuel. A significant share of today’s gas consumption comes from the non-energy use in fertiliser plants in Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and Serbia. Often, these industries benefit from government protection or subsidies, due to their domestic importance and low competitiveness.
Figure 2.6 Energy consumption per capita, SEE, 2017
GJ = Gigagjoule
Source: World Bank (2019) 0
30 60 90 120 150 (GJ/capita)
Montenegro Kosovo* North Macedonia
Slovenia Bosnia and Albania
Herzegovina Republic of
Moldova
Croatia World
Serbia
Bulgaria Romania
EU-28
* This designation is without prejudice to positions on status and in line with the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 (1999).
In 2017, only 6.5% of the industrial sector’s consumed energy came from renewable sources. Bioenergy was almost the only renewable energy solution in this sector, accounting for 99% of total renewables.
Breaking down industry’s final energy consumption, it appears that industrial sectors with the natural availability of this source have opted to utilise it for their own needs. Some 70% of the bioenergy is consumed in the wood, wood products, paper, pulp, print and food industries, which manufacture wood and other bio-based products on a daily basis.
Figure 2.7 Energy consumption in the industrial sector by energy carrier, SEE (left), EU SEE (centre) and non-EU SEE (right), 2017
Source: IRENA (2019a)
682
PJ475
PJ207
PJ0.01% 10.3%
16.1%
30.4%
34.6%
14.5%
20.5%
6.5%
5.3%
0.01%
7.2%
5.2% 7.4% 0.01%
16.9%
19.7%
31.6%
31.2%
4.8%
32.6%
5.3%
non-EU SEE EU SEE
SEE
Heat Bioenergy Other
Natural Gas Liquid fossil fuels
Solid fossil fuels Electricity
42
02
HOUSEHOLDSIn 2017, the residential sector accounted for 32% of the region’s TFEC. The sector’s shares ranged from 23% in Slovenia to 45% in the Republic of Moldova.Across the region, biomass plays a major role in residential sector heating (Figure 2.8). Its share has increased considerably throughout the past 25 years, accounting for 39% of regional residential TFEC in 2017 – an amount equal to 861 PJ, ranging from 26% of residential consumption in Albania to 60% in Kosovo*.
District Heating (DH) networks play an important role in all SEE economies, except for Albania, Montenegro and Kosovo*. In Serbia, after a period of poor maintenance in the 1990s, the share of DH in energy consumption began increasing again in 2001, due to the refurbishment of many networks.
Currently, most of SEE’s DH systems are still operated on lignite and gas. Yet, this infrastructure could potentially integrate renewables – such as biomass, solar and geothermal energy – into the heating sector on a system-wide level.
Gas is used as a source of domestic space heating in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Republic of Moldova, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia. Bulgaria and Serbia are the only countries that employ coal for domestic space heating to a significant degree.
In the region overall, oil has decreased to 4% of residential TFEC, taking only small shares of domestic energy consumption, mainly in Albania, Croatia and Slovenia.
Figure 2.8 Energy consumption in the residential sector by energy carrier (PJ), SEE (left), EU SEE (centre) and non-EU SEE (right), 2017
Source: IRENA (2019a)
Other
861
PJ564
PJ297
PJ2.9% 4.1%
17.2%
26.5%
21.3%
22.9%
6.2%
0.4%
39.2%
1.5%
0.5%
39.8%
4.0%
4.2%
6.4%
36.6%
9.7%
9.9%
5.6%
0.1%
38.2%
non-EU SEE EU SEE
SEE
Heat Bioenergy Other
Natural Gas Liquid fossil fuels
Solid fossil fuels Electricity
* This designation is without prejudice to positions on status and in line with the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 (1999).
The direct contribution of renewable energy sources other than biomass to residential energy demand is marginal. Solar thermal resources are scarcely used in the region, accounting for less than 0.2% of the TFEC, or 1.5 PJ. The highest share is in Albania, where solar thermal accounts for 1.2% of residential energy demand. In comparison, solar thermal collectors provide 5% of the energy consumed in households in Greece. Given the good level of solar resources, in particular in the southern part of the region, solar water heating can provide a significant contribution to meeting residential energy demand.
4 4
02
Figure 2.9 Energy consumption in the transport sector, SEE, 2017
Note: Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republic of Moldova are not included in the time series due to a lack of historic data.
Source: IRENA (2019a)
Final energy consumption in transport, SEE, 1991-2017 (PJ)
0 200 400 600 800
1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017
Energy consumption by energy carrier in the transport sector, SEE, 2017
1%
Gas95%
Oil1%
Electricity3%
Biomass
826 PJ
TRANSPORT
Energy consumption in the SEE transport sector has steadily increased over the past 25 years and was the largest energy consumer in 2017, accounting for 30% of TFEC, or 826 PJ. Rising rates of car ownership – resulting from the increased purchasing power of consumers – and new mobility patterns amongst younger generations have reinforced this development. By jurisdiction, transport’s share of TFEC ranges between 23% in the Republic of Moldova and 40% in Albania. As in most regions of the world, the transport sector in SEE relies almost exclusively on oil (Figure 2.9).
Railway infrastructure exists in all the jurisdictions of the region, but has limited infrastructure, especially outside the EU. In general, development of railway
infrastructure lags behind road infrastructure.
Insufficient funding and a low level of maintenance, compared to previous years, have contributed to the current poor condition of the region’s railway system.
Transnational lines, for example, are few. To break the rapidly increasing trend of fossil fuel consumption in the transport sector, public transportation and the railway system in particular need to be strengthened.
The share of renewable energy in transport fuels is small (3%) and concentrated in a few economies:
only Albania (10%), Romania (6%) and Bulgaria (5%) have achieved a significant share of biofuel in road transport.