Hessen has become increasingly dependent on Russian energy supplies in recent years.

On the other hand, the total amount of energy imports in 2021 fell by 26.6 percent compared to the previous year, as a current evaluation by the State Statistical Office shows.

According to this, the state's economy imported 14.3 million tons of fossil fuels worth around 3.2 billion euros last year.

Oil and natural gas accounted for 94.9 percent of these volumes – and 99.9 percent of these came from companies in Russia.

The Hessian recipients, including power plants and industrial companies, paid a total of three billion euros for this.

The Netherlands and the Czech Republic contributed the remaining 0.1 percent.

Russia was also the most important supplier of hard coal in 2021, with 87.3 percent of the imported raw material coming from there.

Half of the electricity comes from burning coal

Coal plays an important role in the continuous basic supply of electricity in Hesse: half of the electricity generated for this purpose in Hessian power plants comes from burning coal, another 34 percent from gas-fired power plants, and the rest from the incineration of waste, sewage sludge and the like.

However, the weather-related fluctuating wind and solar power was excluded from these basic supply statistics.

Dependence on Russian hard coal was not always so strong: in 2018, Colombia was still the most important supplier with a one-third share of hard coal imports, while Russia was only fourth at that time with 11.9 percent.

Since then, however, hard coal imports from there have more than tripled.

Most recently, Russia delivered half a million tons of hard coal worth 62.6 million euros.

Alternative suppliers, which many have relied on since the outbreak of war in Ukraine, have so far been listed as “also ran”: Colombia supplied 4.7 percent of the order quantities, the United States 3.6 percent, South Africa 3.3 percent and the Netherlands 1 percent.

Lignite does not play a major role

Only in the case of lignite does Russia currently not play a major role in Hessian foreign trade: 88.4 percent of lignite imports to Hesse came from the United Kingdom and 11.6 percent from the Czech Republic.

But both countries did worse business last year: the import of lignite fell by more than 40 percent in 2021, while 32 percent more hard coal was imported.

The imports of crude oil and natural gas for Hessian energy producers and industrial companies fell by 27.8 percent within a year.

The economic upheavals and restrictions caused by the pandemic, such as the lockdown and travel restrictions at the beginning of the year, are likely to play a role here.

However, the switch to renewable energy sources and efforts to save energy are also making themselves felt: According to the energy monitor report, a long-term comparison shows that both industry and households now require significantly less energy than they did at the turn of the millennium: both their consumption of coal and oil and natural gas has since declined.

The federal state of Hesse has grown by 300,000 inhabitants over the past 20 years.

And the annual gross domestic product, i.e. the sum of the goods and services produced annually, has since increased by almost 50 percent.

Only the consumption of international air traffic has increased.

It is now the largest energy consumer in Hesse, just ahead of car traffic and private households.