Renewable Energy Formed 12.6% of Last Year’s Total Electricity Consumption

Renewable energy accounted for 12.6% of Estonia’s total electricity consumption in the last year, which marks a decrease of 2.4 percentage points compared to 2012.

A total of 1.15 terawatt-hours of renewable energy was produced over the last year, with output down by 16%. Slightly over half of the renewable energy production was from biomass, biogas and waste. These sources fuelled the production of 597 gigawatt-hours of electricity last year, representing a 32% drop in output year-on-year. Amounts of electricity produced from biomass began to decline as early as the last quarter of 2012, when large-scale biomass incineration at the Narva Power Plants was halted.

30.1 million euros was paid out in subsidies for electricity produced from biomass, biogas and waste, compared to 47 million a year earlier.

Wind power accounted for 46% of renewable energy production in 2013. Wind power output increased by 18% or 80 gigawatt-hours over the year, as a number of new wind farms have been added in late 2012 and in the last year.

Wind power subsidy payouts increased by 61% year-on-year, to 21.9 million euros. The growth was due to the addition of new wind power plants, as well as facilities that had begun operations earlier, but were only certified as compliant with network guidelines in 2013. Measurements at the Pakri peninsula and Virtsu showed that the daily average wind speed for 2013 decreased slightly compared to 2012.

There was a sharp spike last year in the amount of subsidies paid out for solar power, but the total size of the subsidy remained marginal compared to other sources, at 6000 euros per year.

The amount of renewable energy that received subsidies in the last year came to nearly one terawatt-hour. In monetary terms, renewable energy subsidies fell by 15% to around 53 million euros.

The 2013 payout for combined heat and power production grew by 10% compared to 2012, to a total of 4.6 million euros. The amount of subsidized electricity increased from 132 to 144 gigawatt-hours.

In Q4 2013, renewable energy accounted for 16.9% of total consumption in Estonia; the same period of 2012 showed a figure of 12.5%.

Although renewable energy output fell last year, its share in total domestic production still surpassed the goal listed in the explanatory memorandum to the draft of amendments to the Electricity Market Act that is currently being processed by the Riigikogu. The draft bill’s explanatory memorandum listed renewable energy share goals of 11.3% for 2013 and 12.0% for 2014.

More information on the renewable energy subsidies is available here.