Estonian utility company Eesti Energia enters into solar business
/11th September 2017, by pv magazine/
The company will offer solar leasing solutions as well as turn-key projects for self-consumption.
Estonian state-owned power utility Eesti Energia will begin offering solar solutions to its customers in the frame of a plan to produce 40% of its electricity from renewable energy sources by 2020. The company said it will propose solar leasing solutions as well as turn-key projects for self-consumption to its customers starting from next autumn.
As for its leasing offer, the company’s Head of Energy Sales Karla Agan said “We will offer a new, unique complete service in Estonia that will enable consumers to utilise solar energy without self financing. The business operator may concentrate solely on its main business and leave everything related to solar energy production to Eesti Energia. The client only has to pay for the electricity to be produced on the basis of the agreed price.”
The first project of this kind will be developed on the roof of a dairy farm of local company OÜ Estonia in Järva county by Eesti Energia’s renewable energy unit Enefit Taastuvenergia. The company added that it will also ensure a smooth process from design of the solar power plant to its final adjustment and delivery for production for all those clients that want to own the PV installation.
Under the current Estonian regulations, there is a technology neutral feed-in-premium for all renewables, which amounts to €53.7 ($57.1)/MWh, paid in addition to the wholesale electricity price. The FIP is paid only for the electricity injected into the grid, and not on self-consumption.
Estonia’s cumulative PV capacity reached 10 MW at the end of 2016. New additions for 2016 totaled 3 MW, up from 2 MW a year earlier. The Estonian PV Association forecasts that a further 5 MW of new PV systems could be connected to the local grid in 2017.
What are the next solar PV power plants in Estonia? What is market dynamics and forecast for market development to 2026? Answers to all these questions you will find out in Renewable Market Watch’s latest Q2 2017 published report:
Central-East and South-East Europe Countries Photovoltaic (Solar PV) Market: Outlook 2017 ÷ 2026