8. RENEWABLE ENERGY
Renewable energy supply and consumption
Figure 8.1 gives the evolution of renewable energy shares in the key metrics of TPES, electricity generation and total final consumption (TFC) and shows that in the last decade, the shares of renewables have increased at a rapid pace in all three metrics. Since 2010, the increase of renewables in TPES and TFC has slowed, indicating that Estonia has entered a new era were strong growth in renewables requires a more coordinated renewable energy policy to identify and address key barriers.
Figure 8.1 Share of renewable energy in TPES, electricity and TFC, 1990-2018
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
1990
2000
2008 
2018
Total primary energy supply |
Electricity generation |
Total final energy consumption* |
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IEA 2019. All rights reserved. |
* Includes direct use in total final consumption and indirect use through electricity and heat consumption. Latest data are from 2017.
Note: Data for 2018 are provisional.
Source: IEA (2019), World Energy Balances 2019, www.iea.org/statistics.
Renewable energy in total primary energy supply
Figure 8.2 gives the renewable energy contribution to TPES, which grew from 11.7% to 19.2% between 2008 and 2018. Bioenergy was the dominant source of renewable energy, accounting for 95% of renewables in TPES in 2018, down from 98% in 2008. The growth in wind power helped bring some diversification to the mix of renewables. From 2008 to 2018, wind power experienced a seven-fold growth, and increased from 0.2% to 1.0% of TPES.
Figure 8.2 Renewable energy in TPES, 2005-18
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Mtoe |
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5% |
0 
0% 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Bioenergy*
Wind
Hydro**
Renewables share (right axis)
IEA 2019. All rights reserved.
* Bioenergy includes solid primary biofuels, liquid biofuels, biogases and renewable municipal waste.
Notes: Mtoe = million tonnes of oil-equivalent. Supply data for 2018 are provisional. Total primary energy supply includes conversion losses for bioenergy fuels in heat and power generation, which is not the case for hydro, wind or solar.
Source: IEA (2019), World Energy Balances 2019, www.iea.org/statistics.
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8. RENEWABLE ENERGY
Figure 8.3 shows the resources mix of Estonia’s bioenergy supply, which totalled 1.0 Mtoe in 2018. Primary solid biofuels sourced from domestic forestry account for 99% of the supply. In addition to the domestic supply, Estonia produces solid biofuels for export, which account for around one-third of total domestic bioenergy production.
Figure 8.3 Bioenergy supply by source and use by sector, 2017
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biofuels |
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Biogas and |
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liquid biofuels |
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Transport* |
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99% |
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Energy |
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transformation** |
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IEA 2019. All rights reserved. |
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*Not visible on this scale.
**Energy transformation is mainly electricity and heat generation from primary solid biofuels and waste.
Notes: Mtoe= million tonnes of oil-equivalent. Percentages of bioenergy supply by source in 2018 are the same as 2017. Total supply of bioenergy in 2018 was 1.03 Mtoe. In addition, there was 0.06 Mtoe of non-renewable municipal waste in Estonia’s total primary energy supply in 2018.
Source: IEA (2019), World Energy Balances 2019, www.iea.org/statistics.
The share of the bioenergy supply consumed to produce heat and electricity is 58%. District heating accounted for 97.1% of biomass consumption for heat and electricity, with a relatively even split between combined heat and power (CHP) plants and heatonly boilers (Table 8.1). Co-firing of biomass with shale oil in electricity-only plants accounted for just 2.9% of biomass consumed for heat and electricity.
Table 8.1 Biomass consumption for heat and electricity by plant type, 2017
Plant type
Combined power and heat (district heating)
Heat only (district heating)
Electricity only
Total
Consumption |
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Share of biomass use in |
(ktoe) |
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heat and power |
276 |
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53% |
230 |
44% |
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16 |
3% |
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522 |
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Note = ktoe: kilotonne of oil equivalent.
Source: IEA (2019), World Energy Balances 2019, www.iea.org/statistics.
In 2017, 37% of the total biomass supply was burned in smaller distributed systems that provide heat to residential sector consumers that do not use district heating. These smaller systems play a key role in meeting Estonia’s heat demand, covering about half of residential heat demand in 2017 (IEA, 2018b).
Estonia ranked ninth among IEA countries in the share of TPES from renewables in 2017 (Figure 8.4). Among the countries approaching or exceeding 20% renewables in TPES, Estonia has the highest share of bioenergy in its renewable energy mix. A
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ENERGY SYSTEM TRANSFORMATION
8. RENEWABLE ENERGY
diversification of renewable energy sources could help Estonia maintain its strong position in the share of renewables in TPES.
Figure 8.4 Renewable energy share of TPES in IEA countries, 2017
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Solar |
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Hydro** |
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IEA 2019. All rights reserved.
*Bioenergy includes solid biofuels, renewable waste, liquid biofuels and biogases.
**Hydro includes hydro power (excluding pumped storage), and tidal, wave and ocean energy. Source: IEA (2019), World Energy Balances 2019, www.iea.org/statistics.
Renewable electricity generation
From 2008 to 2018, renewables expanded from just 1.9% to 15.5% of total electricity generation (Figure 8.5). This twelve-fold increase in renewable electricity was driven by increasing use of biomass and wind power deployment. Hydropower has provided a small, but consistent, contribution.
Figure 8.5 Renewable energy in electricity generation, 2005-18
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Bioenergy* |
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IEA 2019. All rights reserved. * Bioenergy includes solid primary biofuels, liquid biofuels, biogases and renewable municipal waste.
Note: TWh = terawatt hour.
Source: IEA (2019), World Energy Balances 2019, www.iea.org/statistics.
The role of bioenergy in renewable electricity generation shifted significantly from 2008 to 2018. In 2008, bioenergy accounted for just 18% of renewable electricity. In 2018, bioenergy power generation was 1.3 terawatt hours (TWh), accounting for a 66% share of renewable electricity.
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8. RENEWABLE ENERGY
Biomass CHP plants covered 86% of the bioenergy contribution to renewable electricity generation (Table 8.2). The remaining 14% came from the co-firing of biomass with shale oil in electricity-only plants.
Table 8.2 Renewable electricity from bioenergy by plant type, 2017
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Biomass electricity |
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TWh |
Share |
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Combined heat and power |
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0.86 |
85.9% |
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Electricity only |
0.14 |
14.1% |
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Total |
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1.0 |
100% |
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Note: TWh = terawatt hour.
Source: IEA (2019), World Energy Balances 2019, www.iea.org/statistics.
From 2007-17, wind power capacity increased from 50 megawatts (MW) to 312 MW, while wind generation grew from just 0.7% to 5.6% of total electricity generation (Figure 8.6).
Figure 8.6 Wind power capacity and generation, 2002-17
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IEA 2019. All rights reserved. Notes: MW = megawatt. Decreased generation in 2016 resulted from a sustained period of unusually low winds. Source: IEA (2019), World Energy Balances 2019, www.iea.org/statistics.
Rapid growth in wind turbine deployment has helped wind generation become a key source of renewable electricity. In 2018, wind generation accounted for 33% of Estonia’s renewable electricity generation. However, since 2015, wind deployment has slowed down significantly, with only 10 MW of new capacity added in 2016 and no new capacity deployed in 2017. Estonia should rapidly identify and address the causes of the slowdown in wind power deployment.
Hydropower is the third-largest renewable electricity source in Estonia, with 6 MW of installed capacity generating 0.03 TWh in 2018 to cover 0.1% of national electricity generation. Despite its small size, hydropower still contributes to Estonia’s renewable energy goals.
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ENERGY SYSTEM TRANSFORMATION