12.02.2010
Energy
Despite the fact that Slovenia is completely dependent on the import of liquid and gas fuels, with 52.1 per cent in 2008, the country’s energy dependency was 1.7 per cent below the EU-27 average of 53.8 per cent and the reason for classifying Slovenia among the Member States with medium dependency. On the other hand, the use of liquid fuels has been increasing at fast pace, which means that Slovenia’s energy dependence is set to increase in the coming years. In 2008, the use of liquid fuels was up 16 per cent over the year before and the final use of oil products continues to be on the rise in Slovenia.
The use of diesel fuel almost doubled in the last five years, which the office ascribes to an expansion of passenger transport and even more so of cargo road transport.
Heating oil used by household customers was also up in 2008 by 10 per cent as the average temperatures in the first quarter of the year were 2 degrees centigrade lower than a year earlier and 4 degrees centigrade lower in April in comparison with April 2007.
Slovenia covers 77 per cent of its needs for hard fuels through domestic production and almost all of its needs for energy from renewable sources. These two categories, however, account for a meagre 9 per cent of the final energy use in Slovenia. The share of electricity produced in Slovenia from renewable sources was 26 per cent in 2008, 22 per cent in 2007 and 29 per cent in 2000.
Power generated by hydro power plants still accounts for some 90per cent of power generated in Slovenia from renewable sources, and the waste- and biogas-fired power plants are still rare.
Total primary energy supply; Slovenia, 2008
- Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, 2010
Energy intensity in Slovenia is decreasing
Energy intensity in Slovenia in 2007 was 1.5 times above the EU-27 average. Since 2001, however, both primary energy supply and final consumption have been steadily declining. The downward trend present in Slovenia between 2002 and 2005 was in the range of 2 per cent on the annual basis, while energy intensity in 2006 fell by 5 per cent. The fact that energy intensity is falling can be attributed to the lower intensity of demand for energy: in 2006 and 2007 demand for primary supply was down 0.2 per cent and final consumption was down 1 per cent on the annual basis. The promotion of the role of the effectiveness with which energy is being used in producing added-value (energy efficiency) and commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions are producing the first results.
Renewable fuels
Slovenia held the 5th place among the EU-27 Member States in 2007 with a 22-per cent share of electricity generated from renewable sources (solar, wind and hydropower energy). In terms of gross electricity consumption, Slovenia held the 8th place. With a 60-per cent share Austria was in the lead with Estonia being at the bottom with only a 2 per cent production of electricity from renewables. The EU-27 averaged 16 per cent and the goal to be reached is 20 per cent by the year 2020.
In 2008, 26 per cent of electricity produced in Slovenia was generated from renewable sources of energy. Hydroelectric power plants accounted for the biggest share of electricity generated from renewable fuels – producers generating electricity as their core business (87 per cent), followed by small hydroelectric power plants (4 per cent) and small-scale hydroelectric power plants that serve the needs of their owners (2 per cent). The rest of electricity from renewable sources was generated using wood, wood waste and bone flour (5 per cent), as well as photovoltaic, landfill gas, sewage gas from treatment plants, other biogases and formaldehyde gas.
The share of electricity from renewable sources of energy in gross electricity consumption in Slovenia depends heavily on hydrological conditions and varies from 32 per cent when precipitations are abundant to 22 per cent in dry years. Slovenia has committed itself under the Directive on the use of energy from renewable sources (2009/28/EC) to generate 25 per cent of energy from renewable sources by 2020.
Power generation industry
All European citizens can take advantage of the numerous benefits provided by a truly competitive energy market.
Consumer choice, fairer prices, cleaner energy and security of supply are at the centre of the third legislative package, adopted by the Commission on 19 September 2007. In order to reach those goals, the Commission has proposed the following:
- to separate production and supply from transmission networks,
- to facilitate cross-border trade in energy,
- more effective national regulators,
- to promote cross-border collaboration and investment,
- greater market transparency on network operation and supply, and
- increased solidarity among the EU countries.
In Slovenia all forms of primary energy sources are used to generate electricity. The predominant share of electricity production is carried out in conventional power plants (thermal power plants, hydroelectric power plants, and in one nuclear power plant), while the production share at the distribution level accounts for less than four percent of the total production.
Electricity consumption in Slovenia, GWh
- Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, 2010
The following eight companies operating in large facilities with a capacity of over 10 MW are active in the electricity-production market:
- Drava Hydroelectric Power Plants, Maribor, d. o. o. (Drava HPPs),
- Sava Hydroelectric Power Plants, Ljubljana, d. o. o. (Sava HPPs),
- Soča Hydroelectric Power Plants, Nova Gorica, d. o. o. (Soča HPPs),
- Krško Nuclear Power Plant, d. o. o. (Krško NPP),
- Šoštanj Thermal Power Plant, d. o. o. (Šoštanj TPP) – coal-fired,
- Trbovlje Thermal Power Plant, d. o. o. (Trbovlje TPP) – coal-fired,
- Ljubljana Combined Heat-and-Power Plant, d. o. o. (Ljubljana CHP) co-generates heat and electricity in a co-generation process using coal,
- Brestanica Thermal Power Plant, d. o. o. (Brestanica TPP) produces electricity from liquid and gaseous fuels.
In 2007, the links among the production companies became reorganised. The six companies - the Drava HPPs, the Sava HPPs, the Soča HPPs, the Šoštanj TPP, the Trbovlje TPP, and the Brestanica TPP - were, for most of the year, operating within the group known as Holding Slovenske elektrarne, d. o. o., (the HSE) forming the first energy pillar. This group also had access to about 70 percent of the energy generated in the Krško NPP, with which the HSE traded in the wholesale market. GEN energija, d. o. o., the company that forms the second energy pillar in the wholesale market, had access to about 30 percent of the energy from the Krško NPP. In the following years the share available to GEN energija will increase. Since their separation from the HSE in November 2007, the production companies Brestanica TPP and the Sava HPPs have operated within GEN energija. In spite of the division of the production companies into two energy pillars, they both co-operated in the project of building the hydroelectric chain on the lower Sava River.
In addition to the so-called system production in large power plants, the Slovenian electricity system also includes some distributed production operating on the distribution network. With respect to distributed production there are two important, main types of production in Slovenia – the production in small hydroelectric power plants and the production in industrial facilities for the co-generation of heat and electricity.
Electricity production – in GWh
- Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, 2010
Slovenian electricity market
With the opening of the electricity market in 2001, electrical energy became a marketable commodity for industrial consumers also in Slovenia. In 2007, electricity markets have been opened even to households. Tariff customers are provided with electricity, in accordance with the tariff system, by distribution companies in the framework of the public service of the supply of electricity to tariff customers.
Electricity users are able to negotiate the price of electricity with several distributors. Different rates of the electricity network fee are applied, depending on the voltage level, season (high-middle-low) and overall consumption of power.
Electricity prices
Electricity is a commodity subject to the rules of supply and demand, where a contract on electricity supply regulates the relations between customers and electricity suppliers.
Consumer prices charged to end customers consists of the price for electricity, the use-of-network price (including the network charge and the supplements to the network charge), two contributions (the contribution supporting the reliability of supply of electricity from domestic sources of primary energy, and the contribution supporting electricity from high-efficiency cogeneration and from renewable sources), the excise duty and the value-added tax.
The make up of the consumer electricity price
The consumer price for electricity includes the following:
- the price for the electricity (set by the supplier),
- the network charge (set by the Energy Agency),
- the supplements to the network charge (set by the Republic of Slovenia),
- the excise duty,
- the value-added tax.
The final electricity prices are published at the websites of the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia and the Statistical Office of the European Communities.
Electricity prices for reference customers the 2nd half of 2007(in EUR/kWh; all taxes included)
- Source: Energy Agency of the Republic of Slovenia
- Source: Eurostat, 2008
Nuclear power
Slovenia has a 696 MWe Westinghouse nuclear reactor in operation, the NPP Krško, which is jointly owned by Croatia. This pressurized water reactor was the first western nuclear power plant in eastern Europe. Construction started in 1975 and it was connected to the grid in 1981, entering commercial operation in 1983. In 2001 its steam generators were replaced and the plant was uprated 6% then and 3% subsequently. Its operational life was designed to be 40 years, but a 20-year extension is being sought.
It is owned and operated by GEN Energija, which incorporates the Slovenian stake in NEK, a joint Slovenian-Croatian company operating Krško.
NPP Krško supplied a record 5.8 billion kWh in 2008, split equally between Slovenia and Croatia. Nuclear power from the single reactor supplied 40% of Slovenia's electricity and 15% of Croatia's electricity in 2008.
A further Krško unit is under consideration, possibly of 1000 MWe. Parliament is due to decide on this in 2010, and it would be built from 2020-25, with cost estimated at up to EUR 5 billion.
Radioactive wastes
The low- and intermediate-level waste is stored at Krško, as well as the spent nuclear fuel. The 1996 strategy for long-term management of the spent nuclear fuel recommends its direct disposal, but leaves open the possibility of a later decision to reprocess it.
A permanent repository for low- and intermediate-level wastes (LLW and ILW) is scheduled to open in 2013 at Vrbina, near the Krško plant. It took some five years to find a suitable site and compensation of EUR 5 million per year will be paid to the local community. The repository will consist of two silos having combined capacity of 9,400 m3 of low-level and intermediate-level radioactive waste arisings - enough for half that produced by Krško during its entire lifetime and decommissioning.
Regulation
Krško is supervised and licensed by the Slovenian Nuclear Safety Administration (SNSA), as well as by international expert missions organized by IAEA, EU, WANO, etc.
Research & Development
Slovenia has a 250 kW Triga research reactor operating since 1966 at the Josef Stefan Institute, which is a major research establishment. It also operates a nuclear training centre.
Non-proliferation
Slovenia has been a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty since 1992, and in 2000 the Additional Protocol on its safeguards agreement with IAEA entered into force. It has been party to the Paris Convention on civil liability for nuclear damage since 2001 and the supplementary Brussels Convention since 2003.
