According to Elering’s report on security of supply, there are no issues with security of electricity supply in Estonia and our vicinity this winter. In the coming years, it is important to keep the existing controllable power plants operational and to create conditions for the establishment of new plants that are not dependent on the weather.
According to Kalle Kilk, chairman of the management board of Elering, there are currently 1,800 megawatts of controllable power plants in Estonia. “However, like elsewhere in Europe, the competitiveness of fossil-fuel power plants established decades ago has rapidly declined in Estonia, and there is clear pressure to close these plants. Therefore, in the coming years, it is critically important to make sure that the capacity of controllable power plants does not fall below 1,000 megawatts in Estonia. In the next decade, the need for controllable capacities will grow alongside the increase in the use of renewable energy to 1,200 megawatts.”
While the implementation of a back-up measure intended for keeping the existing power plants that have lost their competitiveness in the electricity market operational was previously planned for 2027, in reality the need to launch the support mechanism even earlier has become apparent. The respective preparations are nearing completion.
To support the establishment of new controllable capacities, Elering commenced a procurement for a long-term purchase of frequency reserves, the aim of which is to provide additional security for the establishment of new production and storage capacities. This procurement will bring up to 500 megawatts of new capacity to the market. Looking ahead to the next decade, it will likely be necessary to implement additional measures to establish new capacities.
The desynchronisation from the Russian grid and connecting to the Continental Europe Synchronous Area to take place in February of next year is the biggest change in Estonia’s energy sector in recent history. Extensive preparations for this are nearing completion, and the prerequisites for a smooth transition to a different frequency area have been established.
The investments and changes made in the major synchronisation project have increased the reliability of the transmission network managed by Elering. “At the same time, in the current geopolitical situation, the network’s readiness to operate in various crisis situations must be significantly increased. We have launched a number of actions from acquiring larger inventories to increasing cybersecurity at the level of each employee,” said Kilk.
In order to meet Estonia’s national renewable energy goals, it is necessary to implement the new concept of connecting power plants to the grid as soon as possible through amendments to legislation, after which Elering will begin strengthening the transmission network so that the connection of new power plants would take place quicker than before, and the costs of connection would be known to investors in advance. “This way, Elering will contribute to ensuring that by 2030, Estonia’s annual consumption would be covered by domestic renewable energy,” said Kilk.
Elering’s latest report on security of supply is available on the website (in estonian).