2. General energy policy

Key data

(2018 provisional)

TPES: 5.6 Mtoe (oil shale 72.7%, natural gas 7.3%, bioenergy and waste 19.3%, oil 1.8%, wind 1.0%, coal and peat 0.7%, hydro 0.02%, electricity -2.9%*), +2.7% since 2008

TPES per capita: 4.3 toe/cap (IEA average: 4.1 toe [2017])

TPES per unit of GDP: 145 toe/USD million PPP (IEA average: 105 toe USD million PPP [2017])

Energy production: 5.9 Mtoe (oil shale 71.8%, bioenergy and waste 26.9%, wind 0.9%, peat 0.4%, hydro 0.02%), +38.9% since 2008

* Electricity exports are counted as negative in TPES

Country overview

The Republic of Estonia (hereafter Estonia) is located in northeast Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Finland, between Latvia and the Russian Federation (Figure 2.1). The country has an area of 45 227 square kilometres and is divided into 15 counties and 79 municipalities, with Tallinn as its capital city. Estonia has a population of 1.3 million, of which ethnic Estonians account for 69%, Russians 25%, Ukrainians 2%, Belarussians 1%, Finns 1% and other groups 2%. The official language is Estonian and the second most spoken language is Russian.

Estonia restored its independence in 1991, 51 years after being annexed by the Soviet Union. Since then, Estonia has moved rapidly to reorient itself to the west, has adopted market reforms and has become a stable multi-party democracy under its 1992 Constitution. It joined both the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 2004, and became a member of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in 2010. Estonia became the 29th member of the International Energy Agency (IEA) on 9 May 2014. This is the first In-depth Review of Estonia’s energy policies since it became an IEA member country.

Estonia is a parliamentary republic with a single-chamber parliament (the Riigikogu), elected every four years by proportional representation. The president of Estonia is elected by the parliament for a five-year term and the prime minister, appointed by the president, heads the government. The most recent parliamentary election was in March 2019. The incumbent Prime Minister Jüri Ratas was re-installed, and is now leading a new coalition government consisting of his Centre Party, and the conservative Pro Patria and EKRE parties.

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ENERGY INSIGHTS