The first-quarter production of renewable energy increased by a third

In the first quarter, Estonian power plants produced 526 gigawatt-hours of renewable energy – nearly a third more than during the same period in the last year. Renewable energy formed more than 19 percent of the total consumption of electricity in Estonia in the last quarter.

Estonia has established 15.7 percent as the target level for the proportion of renewable energy this year. In the previous year, the proportion of renewable energy in total consumption reached 17 percent.

The increase in the production and proportion of renewable energy was aided by the increased volume of wind energy, which formed 46 percent of the total production of renewable energy in the first quarter. The produced 240 gigawatt-hours is a more than 65 percent increase compared to the previous year.

Renewable energy producers received a total of 26 million euros of support from January to March this year – a third more than in the same period last year. In the first quarter, wind energy was given 62 percent of support compared to the total production whereas the amount of the support was over ten million euros. In the first three months of the year, payments have therefore been made to the extent of 25 percent of the maximum limit amount of 600 gigawatt-hours of wind energy to be supported.

Electricity produced from biomass, biogas and waste formed 52 percent of the production of renewable energy in the last three months. 276 gigawatt-hours of electricity was produced from these types of fuel from January to March, which is 13 percent more compared to the same period last year. Nearly 14 million euros of support was paid for electricity produced from biomass, biogas and waste – slightly more than in the beginning of the previous year.

Eight gigawatt-hours of electricity were produced by hydropower in the first quarter of the year and 217,000 euros were spent on support.

The number of owners of solar panels receiving support is constantly growing. In the first quarter of the year, the amount of electricity produced via solar panels and distributed to the network amounted to nearly three gigawatt-hours. Thanks to the addition of new solar panels, this indicator has increased by more than three times compared to last year.

Since micro-producers consume most of the produced solar energy on the spot, the estimated total amount of electricity produced via solar panels could be 4-5 times higher than the amount distributed to the network which was given support.

The support for efficient co-generation was paid about a third less than in the same period last year due to the warm weather and low thermal load – slightly more than a million euros. 36 gigawatt-hours of electricity were produced in the efficient co-generation mode.

Electricity consumers finance the support for renewable energy and efficient co-generation by means of the renewable energy charge. Elering collected a total of 24.2 million euros of this charge in the first quarter and paid 25.5 million euros of support. Detailed information concerning the renewable energy support amounts is available in the renewable energy support section.