Estonia’s Eesti Energia Evaluating €1.5 Billion Investment in Renewable Energy

Estonia’s government-owned power producer Eesti Energia is evaluating to invest €2.5 billion over a period of five-years in power generation business. The company officials said that out of the total investment, €1.5 billion is marked for the development of wind and solar parks in Ida-Viru County upto 2026. Estonia is among the European countries that have been working hard to cut down dependence on Russia for energy supplies, especially gas. Till recently, Russian gas accounted for 12% share of its requirements.  But now, the country has been in the forefront of efforts to ensure energy security for itself and other European neighbours.

The company has already pumped €39.9 million in renewables. It has also invested €16.8 million in the Enefit 280 oil shale plant.

Eesti Energia held that it will also aim at making the power grid stable and effective in future. It said that its proposed investment in renewables will bridge the electricity supply gap that has led to abrupt hikes in power prices recently.

As per reports, Eesti Energia spokesperson Mattias Kaiv stated that the region has challenges related with electricity production capacity and it’s appropriate to invest in renewables. He added that the Baltic region is yet to gain speed with renewable energy as well; addition of wind and solar farms in the region will also mean that expensive and polluting power plants that run on fossil fuels will not enter the market.

Eesti Energia believes that higher power capacity with the addition of renewables will lead to greater cooperation from smaller suppliers. This will help create more  employment. By-products’ production for other industries is also a possibility.

As per the officials of the Eesti, decentralised solar installations are ought to rise as individuals are showing keen interest in such small plants. Recently Elektrilevi, the grid distributor of Estonia, has said it has received more than 3,200 applications from those wanting connection of their smaller solar plants with the grid. This is a four-fold rise in a year. The company has signed agreements with about 1000 such power generators.

According to Eesti Energia, its subsidiary delving in renewable energy Enefit Green is developing Tootsi wind farm having a capacity of 74 MW. Tootsi along with Sopi windfarm will generate 161 MW when they are operational.

Hando Sutter, Chairman Board, Eesti Energia, had announced recently that the company’s strong profit of €33 million made in the second quarter of 2022 should be invested to attain sustainability in renewable consumption by the end of this decade.