🇪🇪 Estonia to build 1 GW of controllable power plants — consumers to pay €1bn
Estonia will need up to 1,000 MW of new controllable power capacity by 2035 after phasing out oil-shale plants, according to Elering. The estimated cost is at least €1 billion, said Eesti Energia CEO Andrus Durejko.
Gas-fired plants are currently the cheapest option, while oil-shale and nuclear would be significantly more expensive.
These plants will mostly stay in reserve and operate only during high-price periods, meaning they will not pay back their investment through the market.
Costs for consumers:
From 2026, consumers will start covering system maintenance costs. The fixed annual cost is estimated at around €60 million — roughly €2 per month for an average household.
Elering CEO Kalle Kilk says this payment will likely remain permanent, functioning like an “insurance premium” for supply security.
Context (why it matters):
Estonia is openly pricing the cost of reliability in a renewable-heavy system. The case shows how decarbonisation shifts energy costs from production to capacity readiness — a model likely to spread across the Baltics.
Source: ERR / Elering BSM © 2025.
Image: photos/photo_130@21-12-2025_11-42-05.jpg