Electricity consumption and generation
Estonia’s all-time peak electricity consumption was 1,599 MW (4 January 2024).
From 1 January 2021, the updated accounting methodology for actual consumption and generation also includes distributed generation. Taking this into account, before 4 January 2024, Estonia’s all-time peak consumption was 1,591 MW (18 February 2021).
Before that, Estonia’s all-time peak consumption was 1,587 MW (28 January 2010 from 17:40 to 17:45). Since 1966, the consumption maximum has increased more than threefold.
Electricity consumption, including network losses, in Estonia was 8.26 TWh per year in 2024. As of the beginning of 2025, the installed net generation capacity in the Estonian electricity system is 3 473 MW. However, the actual potential net generation capacity that can be used at any given time is lower, as repairs and breakdowns of production devices have an impact, and the generation capacity of some production devices depends on the availability of wind, solar and hydro resources.
As of the beginning of 2025, 695 MW of wind farms and 1,210 MW of solar farms had been connected to the Estonian electricity system. Currently, the record production in wind farms is 588 MW, which was measured on 16 December 2024 at 14:00–15:00, and the record production in solar farms is 788 MW, which was measured on 6 September 2024 at 12:00–13:00.
However, the record production volume in recent years can be considered to be 2,281 MW, which dates back to 15 January 2016, between 09:00 and 10:00.
The transmission of electricity causes losses in the network, to cover which Elering purchases electricity from the power exchange. The quantity of losses depends on many factors, such as the amount of energy transmitted, the directions of cross-border energy trade, the distribution of power flows in the integrated energy system and the transit caused by it, and weather conditions (humidity, precipitation). In 2024, losses accounted for 2.9% of the total amount of electricity supplied to the transmission system.
Elering presents annual forecasts of consumption, peak loads and transmission capacities of the Estonian electricity system, which are available on the ENTSO-E website. The forecasts are preliminary and are refined during the process of preparing the balancing schedule.
Consumption forecasts on the ENTSO-E platform (in estonian)
Transmission capacity forecasts on the ENTSO-E platform (in estonian)
Submission of data on production devicessitamine tootmisseadmete kohta
In accordance with the Grid Code, the system operator Elering draws up an annual estimate of the generation reserve necessary to meet consumption demand.
The assessment is based on the requirement that the adequacy margin of the system’s production devices must not be less than the system’s maximum daily consumption (peak consumption), to which a 10% margin is added to ensure electricity supply in the event of unexpected load changes and longer-term unplanned production outages.
According to subsection 132 (5) of the Grid Code “Production supplies required for meeting the consumption demand”, all electricity producers must, by 1 February of each year, submit to the system operator Elering the data set out in Annex 3 to the Grid Code for the next ten years for the purpose of assessing the generation reserve of the power system.
Elering publishes an estimate of the generation reserve necessary to meet consumption demand for January (maximum consumption) and July (minimum consumption) for the next ten years. Since 2016, estimates have been published in the security of supply reports for the Estonian electricity system. (varustuskindluse aruannetes.
An electricity producer can submit the data electronically using the attached form to the e-mail address [email protected] or by sending the documents by mail to Elering AS, Kadaka tee 42, 12915 Tallinn. If you have any questions regarding the submission of data, please contact us at the e-mail address [email protected].