Renewable Energy Makes Up 11% of All Q3 Consumption

The amount of renewable energy produced in the third quarter of this year was one seventh larger than the same time last year, totaling 221 gigawatt-hours, and meaning that renewable energy accounted for 11.2% of all electricity consumption. Looking at electricity produced in Estonia alone, power generated from renewable sources comprises eight percent of the total.

“The production volumes of renewable energy for the first nine months of this year show that for the year as a whole, renewable energy generation is likely to reach 2013’s target level of 11.3%, despite the fact that large-scale biomass subsidies at the Narva Power Plants stopped as of last year,” commented Taavi Veskimägi, Elering's Chairman of the Board.

The biggest drop in the third quarter was in the amounts of electricity produced from hydro energy and biomass – 62% to two gigawatt-hours and 20% to 121 gigawatt-hours respectively. At the same time, the amount of energy produced from biogas jumped 73% to 8.5 gigawatt-hours.

98% of all renewable energy produced in the third quarter received subsidies. In fiscal terms, the cost of the subsidies over these three months was 12.3 million euros, which is three percent more than the same time last year.

The highest increase, of 84%, was in subsidies to electricity produced from biogas. The increased payouts are due to the nearly 2.5 megawatts of additional production capacity that has been added in the meantime.

Payouts for wind-generated electricity increased by 62%, as compared to the wind farms that existed in Q3 of last year, approximately 50 megawatts of production capacity has been added in Viru-Nigula and Paldiski.

The decrease in hydro energy output is probably due to lower-than-average precipitation levels at the end of the summer and the start of the fall. This Q3 was noticeably drier than, for example, the third quarter of last year. According to the weather service’s data, average rainfall this year was 53 millimeters, compared to 87 millimeters last year.

The amounts of electricity produced from biomass were affected by the biomass-burning Helme power plant, which began operations in December of last year. At the same time, the average outdoor temperature for Q3 of this year was slightly higher than last year, reducing the output of combined heat and power plants, which mainly use biomass as their fuel source.

The amounts produced from biomass initially exclude the output of the Iru waste incineration block, as there is no clear basis for calculating the share of renewable energy contained in the waste.

The amount of subsidies for electricity produced in efficient co-generation claimed by producers in the third quarter of this year grew by 40% compared to last year, although it still totaled less than one million euros.