Estonian power plants produced 3,398 gigawatt-hours of electricity from renewable sources in 2024, which accounted for 63 percent of Estonia’s electricity production, and for the first time in history, the production of both solar and wind power plants exceeded one terawatt-hour (TWh).
The amount of electricity produced from renewable sources was almost a third higher than in 2023. The growth in renewable electricity production was mainly supported by the addition of new solar and wind power plants. Electricity produced from renewable energy covered 39 percent of total consumption last year.
The capacity of wind power plants increased by 63 percent last year and reached 694 megawatts at the end of the year. accounted for 34 percent of total renewable electricity production in 2024. A total of 1,164 gigawatt-hours of electricity was produced from wind. Compared to the previous year, production increased by 70 percent.
The cap for subsidized — 600 gigawatt-hours per calendar year — was not met last year. A total of 26 million euros was paid in support for renewable electricity produced from wind, which is 28 percent more than in 2023.
Solar energy production increased by half from 693 gigawatt-hours to 1,005 gigawatt-hours. As of the end of the year, solar production capacity has increased by 50 percent to 1,210 megawatts, of which 460 megawatts of production capacity has been registered in support schemes. The capacity of solar power plants receiving support increased by only 4 percent over the year.
The volume of solar energy subsidies remained stable and 27 million euros in subsidies was paid for electricity produced from solar energy in 2024. The addition of solar production capacities has created a situation where the electricity exchange price is very low or negative during sunny hours, and this affects the amount of subsidies, as producers are not paid subsidies during negative hours. Due to the impact of grid-connected solar power plants, the exchange price during sunny hours was 26 percent lower than the average annual exchange price.
Electricity generated from biomass, biogas and waste accounted for 35 percent of renewable electricity production last year. These sources produced 1,199 gigawatt-hours of electricity, which received support in the extent of 27 million euros.
Total renewable energy production receiving support grew by 10 percent last year to 1,490 gigawatt-hours, with the increase in support payments driven by the increase in eligible wind production. In total, 83 million euros in renewable energy and high-efficiency cogeneration support was paid out in 2024.
High-efficiency cogeneration support was paid out 5 percent more in 2024 than the previous year, totaling 2.8 million euros per 88 gigawatt-hours.
Hydro power production last year totaled 30 gigawatt-hours, compared to 25 gigawatt-hours the year before. A total of 0.5 million euros in renewable energy support was paid for last year’s hydro power production.
Tallinn newsroom, +372 610 8852, sise@bns.ee
Baltic News Service