Renewable Energy Totals 14.8 per cent of Total Electricity Consumption in 2014

Last year, renewable energy constituted 14.8 per cent of total electricity consumption in Estonia, being 2.2 percentage points higher than in 2013.

In the fourth quarter of last year, renewable energy totalled 16.7 per cent of Estonia’s total consumption compared to 16.9 per cent during the same period in 2013. Estonia has undertaken to increase the share of renewable energy to 17.6 per cent by the year 2020.

Even though domestic production decreased by almost six per cent, last year a total of 1.36 terawatt-hours of electricity was produced from renewable sources, which is 18 per cent more than in 2013. Subsidised renewable energy reached 1.1 terawatt-hours. In financial terms, this entailed a 12 per cent increase in subsidies for renewable energy, totalling almost 60 million euros.

56 per cent of renewable energy production came from biomass, biogas and waste. 753 gigawatt-hours of electricity was produced from these sources last year, with production increasing by a little over 25 per cent year-on-year. Electricity produced from biomass, biogas and waste received 32.3 million euros in subsidies, in comparison to 30.1 million euros the year before.

In 2014, wind energy represented 42 per cent of total renewable energy production. Wind energy production increased by nine per cent per year. In comparison to 2013, wind conditions were better – measurements on the Pakri Peninsula and in Virtsu showed a 23 per cent increase in average daily wind speed. As a result, subsidies paid for wind energy increased by 20 per cent, reaching 26.3 million euros for the year. However, in 2014 the limit of 600 gigawatt-hours per calendar year for wind energy subsidies as laid out in the Electricity Market Act, was not reached.

Solar energy experienced the biggest growth in comparison to 2013 – total electricity production capacity increased from 117 megawatt-hours to 524 megawatt-hours, and subsidies grew at the same pace, reaching more than 28 000 euros during 2014. There are 175 electricity producers from solar panels among renewable energy producers, most of them micro producers.

In 2014, subsidies for efficient combined heat and power were nine per cent higher than in the previous calendar year, totalling five million euros, as the amount of subsidised electricity grew from 144 gigawatt-hours to 157 gigawatt-hours.

More information on renewable energy subsidies can be found here.