The drastic price increases for energy significantly slowed consumption in German industry in 2022. In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, however, the decline was much smaller.
In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the food and feed industry has the greatest hunger for energy. Almost 39 percent of the energy consumption of all industrial companies in the state was attributable to this sector alone in 2022, according to the State Statistical Office in Schwerin.
According to statistics, despite a slight decline in consumption, natural gas was still the most important energy source for industry in the northeast in 2022. Industrial companies obtained 34 percent of their energy needs from natural gas, electricity accounted for 27 percent. A further 21 percent came directly from renewable energy sources such as biogas, geothermal energy or solar thermal energy.
At 3.5 percent, the use of coal reached its highest level in more than 20 years. Heating oil was also used more frequently again. The main reason is likely to be the suspension of deliveries of Russian natural gas in mid-2022 as a result of the war in Ukraine.
In total, industrial companies in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania consumed almost 23,300 terajoules of energy in 2022, about one percent less than in 2021. Nationwide, industrial energy consumption had even fallen by 9.1 percent. Many companies had drastically reduced their production due to the rapid price increases, especially in the chemical industry and in glass production. Both of these play hardly any role in MV, which is industrially rather poorly developed.
Source: Stern
