Enefit Green, the subsidiary of Tallinn-headquartered energy company Eesti Energia, produced 450 gigawatt-hours of renewable energy in the first quarter of the year 2020, close to one fifth more than for the same period last year.
The electricity produced since January is sufficient for the annual consumption of 150,000 average households.
“The first three months of Enefit Green’s production have been promoted by favourable and stable wind conditions, thanks to which we were able to increase our production results by nearly one fifth, compared with the previous year,” said the chairman of the board of Enefit Green, Aavo Kärmas. “Heating production, at the same time, has however decreased, which results from the significantly warmer weather.”
The highest contribution to the production results was made by wind parks, which in the first three months of the year produced 400 gigawatt-hours of renewable energy. The remainder came from the company’s cogeneration plants, solar parks and the Ruhnu renewable energy solution, as well as the Keila-Joa hydroelectricity plant.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), Estonia is on the brink of a major energy transition that will involve a substantial reduction of the role of domestically produced oil shale in the country’s future energy mix. In 2018, oil shale accounted for 72 per cent of the country’s total domestic energy production, 73 per cent of total primary energy supply and 76 per cent of electricity generation, which is a significant drop over the past 10 years.
Furthermore, the IEA recalled that Estonia has already achieved its mandatory emissions reduction and renewable energy targets for 2020. Looking to 2030, for the first time Estonia is required to reduce its emissions rather than merely containing their growth.
