Regional Energy Balance and Its Implementation to South Karelia

Mika Laihanen, Antti Karhunen, Tapio Ranta

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Lappeenranta University of Technology, Lappeenranta, Finland.

DOI: 10.4236/jsbs.2011.11001                

Abstract

All EU countries have targets for increasing the use of renewable energy at a national level. However this effort should become concrete at regional and local levels where investments on bioenergy are made. This study introduces a systematical and universally applicable method for constructing regional energy balance. This study focuses on the method how to combine specific regional primary energy sources with their end uses. The primary energy sources include different fuels and the net import of electricity. The energy end uses are heat, electricity and losses. The concept of the regional energy balance was illustrated through a case of South Karelia. The total use of primary energy in South Karelia was 25.2 TWh (or 91 PJ) in 2010 and the share of renewable energy sources was 65%. The regional energy balance analysis can be utilized as a guideline for strategically planning and allocating regional energy sources for example, increasing the use of renewable energy sources. It can provide local decision makers and shareholders about the current status of energy supply, convincing them to take proper actions and consider producing energy at a local and regional level.

Keywords

Regional Energy Balance, Energy Production, Energy Consumption, Renewable Energy

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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