Amber Grid : On the coldest days, the consumption of natural gas for heat production doubled

According to the Lithuanian gas transmission system operator Amber Grid, on the coldest days from 14 to 18 January Lithuanian consumers consumed up to 2 times more, and in some cases up to several times more natural gas than in the first days of January.

The biggest change on cold days was recorded in the heat energy production sector, where heat network companies consumed twice as much natural gas to ensure heat supply to the population.

When it comes to the average demand for heat production, gas consumption increased from 43 to 78 gigawatt hours (GWh) per day. Gas consumption of large industrial companies remained at the same level.

'With the sudden drop in air temperature, natural gas is becoming the first source of energy needed to produce heat for cities and residents. The ability to react quickly when energy is needed immediately and in large quantities is very important for gas consumers who ensure the supply of heat energy or use gas in production,' says Nemunas Biknius, CEO of Amber Grid.

According to Mr. Biknius, if necessary, the gas transmission system operator is ready to satisfy even greater customer needs. Due to the increased demand for gas and higher transmission flows, both gas compressor stations located in Panevėžys and Jauniūnai, Širvintos district, were switched on in Lithuania. Gas compressor stations are an essential element of the gas transmission system to increase the gas pressure in order for the gas flows to cover the required distances.

In recent years, gas transmission system users have followed a different strategy than usual for a long time for ordering transmission services, more often when acquiring short-term capacities. Although this service is more expensive than booking long-term capacity for the whole year, it is effective in covering short periods of gas consumption during the cold season or in the event of favourable gas prices in the market. Despite the fact that a large proportion of heat production companies have biofuel boilers due to the previously favourable financing conditions, the vast majority also maintain gas supply infrastructure to production facilities. This shows that natural gas remains a viable alternative for energy production.

Last year, 25.1 TWh or 7 percent more gas was consumed for Lithuania's needs than in 2019. In 2020, 8 TWh of natural gas was transported to Latvian, Estonian and Finnish consumers. This is 33 percent more compared to 2019. In total, the Lithuanian gas transmission system operated by Amber Grid transported a very large amount of 58 TWh of gas last year, or 4.5 percent more than in 2019.