Publications

Survey of Energy Resources 2007

Bioenergy Country Notes

Latvia

Municipal solid waste
quantity of raw material available	0.3	million tonnes
yield of biogas	7.3	GJ/tonne
biogas production	127	TJ
electricity generating capacity	7 300	kW
electricity generation	120	TJ
Wood
yield of solid fuel	12.6	GJ/tonne
solid fuel production	59 500	TJ
Agricultural residues – corn
ethanol production capacity	260	TJ/yr
yield of ethanol	26	GJ/tonne
ethanol production	260	TJ
Agricultural residues – canola
biodiesel production capacity	93.5	TJ/yr
yield of biodiesel	37.4	GJ/tonne
biodiesel production	93.5	TJ

Wood occupies a central place in

Latvia

’s energy resources as 45% of the territory is covered by forests.

In 2005 11.29 million m³ of trees were felled, of which 3.89 million m³ (34.5%) were from government forests and 7.4 million m³ (65.5%) from forests belonging to private owners, municipalities and others. In contrast to the year 2001, the total felled wood has increased by 0.78 million m³. This rise can be attributed to an increase of 0.69 million m³ trees cut in privately-owned forests. The comparable rise in timber harvested from government-owned forests was only 0.09 million m³.

The quantity of felling allowed from sustainable forest supplies has been increased to 10 million m³/yr, a level exceeded in each year between 1999 and 2006.

A thriving industry utilising waste wood exists in Latvia: more than 30 companies are engaged in the production of woodchip briquettes, which are mainly exported to the Nordic countries; a great number of small companies are using wood waste for the production of charcoal and, being in high demand within Europe, it is both exported and sold locally; wood pellets produced are mostly exported. In 2005 20.3 PJ of wood pellets, charcoal and woodchips were exported to the

and Scandinavian countries.