Estonia's energy consumption
Estonia's energy consumption is significantly influenced by its abundant natural resources, particularly its vast oil shale deposits, which are among the largest in the world. The country primarily generates electricity through oil-fired plants, accounting for over 90% of its electricity production, with oil shale serving as the main fuel source. However, the environmental impact of this energy sector is notable, as it contributes to a large percentage of Estonia's greenhouse gas emissions, including sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides.
In recent years, Estonia has been adjusting its energy strategy, especially following geopolitical changes such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which prompted a reduction in gas imports from Russia. Instead, the country is focusing on revitalizing its oil shale industry while grappling with the legacy pollution from its Soviet-era energy practices. Despite efforts to clean up environmental damage, challenges remain from historical industrial activities and military waste.
On the renewable energy front, Estonia has made some progress, initially increasing its renewable energy share from 0.5% in 2002 to about 10% in 2015, although this dropped to 2.2% in 2022. The primary sources of renewable energy include biomass and wind, alongside a modest hydroelectric capacity. Overall, Estonia's energy landscape reflects a complex balance between leveraging its natural resources and addressing environmental sustainability.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Estonia's energy consumption
Official Name: Republic of Estonia.
Summary: The small eastern European nation of Estonia has the largest accessible oil shale deposits in the world.
Estonia is a country in Eastern Europe that shares with Latvia and Russia. It has a coastline of 2,357 miles (3,794 kilometers) on the Gulf of Finland and the Baltic Sea, and its land area is 28,103 square miles (45,228 square kilometers), which includes more than 1,500 islands in the Baltic Sea and a population in 2011 of 1,281,963. The terrain is primarily marshy lowland, with more than 1,400 natural and human-made lakes, and about half of Estonia is covered with forest. About 12 percent of the land is arable, and the country experiences high precipitation at about 24.8 inches per year, which means that there is less need for irrigation than in many other European countries. Estonia’s natural resources include oil shale, peat, phosphorite, clay, limestone, rare earth elements, and dolomite.
Estonia was forcibly incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1940, became independent in 1991 after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and joined the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 2004. The per capita gross domestic product (GDP) in 2024 was $31,850. Estonia has a market-based economy with strong communications and electronics sectors.
Estonia has the world’s largest accessible deposits of oil shale, sedimentary rocks containing high amounts of organic matter from which oil and gas may be extracted. It is one of the few countries in the world currently exploiting its oil shale resources: In 1979–80, two-thirds of the oil shale in the world was mined in Estonia, but this industry was gradually downsized because of the costs of producing fossil energy from oil shale, as compared to other sources of petroleum, as well as a decrease in demand after a nuclear power station was opened in Leningrad. After Estonia became independent, the production of oil shale was privatized and is currently governed in part by market forces: New mining and production takes place according to the price that oil fetches on the world market.
As of 2005, Estonia was estimated to have 16,286 million barrels of oil in oil shale resources and was producing 345 million tons of oil from them. Most of this energy was used to produce heat and electricity, with more than 90 percent of Estonia’s electricity produced by oil-fired plants. More than 75 percent of Estonia’s emissions of greenhouse gases, including 93 percent of sulfur dioxide emissions and 41 percent of nitrogen oxide emissions, came from the energy sector.
Estonia has no proven resources of natural gas but does consume some imported natural gas.In 2022, Estonia imported and consumed a total of 4.8 terawatt-hours (TWh) of natural gas. In 2009 the country produced 16.5 million short tons of coal and consumed 15.2 million short tons. In 2022. coal made up roughly sixty percent of Estonia's domestic energy production.
In 2020, Estonia's electricity system had an installed capacity of 2337 megawatt-hours (MWh). The country had a total consumption of 8.44 TWh per year. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Estonia significantly cut its gas imports from Russia, chosing instead to revitalize its shale industry.
Estonia suffered considerable environmental damage during the years of Soviet occupation, including air pollution from power plants burning oil shale and the discharge of wastewater into natural bodies of water. Soviet military units in Estonia also caused considerable environmental damage, which a 1999 report estimated would cost about $4 billion to clean up. This pollution included hazardous chemicals, mineral construction waste, oil pollution, and rubber and plastic waste. Fuel spills and dumping at some military sites have contaminated the water and soil in nearby towns. In addition, more than 50 Russian warships were left sunk in Estonian coastal waters, and removal is complicated by the fact that these ships contain oil, which could spill into the coastal waters.
However, considerable strides have been made in cleaning up the air and water: In 2000, emissions from air pollution were 80 percent less than they were in 1980, and the amount of unpurified wastewater discharged was reduced to one-twentieth of the amount in 1980. The government is also committed to producing an increasing proportion of electricity from renewable sources and from cogeneration.
In 2002, 0.5 percent of electricity was produced from renewable resources; this increased to 1.5 percent in 2007 and reached about 10 percent in 2015. The primary sources of renewable energy were biomass and wind; the country also has a small amount of hydroelectric capacity. In 2022, this percentage had fallen to just 2.2 percent.
Bibliography
"Energy Supply." IEA, 2022, www.iea.org/countries/estonia/energy-mix. Accessed 1 Aug. 2024.
European Environment Agency. “Country Profile: Estonia.” http://www.eea.europa.eu/soer/countries/ee/soertopic‗view?topic=country%20introduction. Accessed 1 Aug. 2024.
Laizans, Janis. "Estonia Turns Back to Shale Oil AS It Cuts Off Russian Power." Reuters, 19 Oct. 2022, www.reuters.com/business/energy/estonia-turns-back-shale-oil-it-cuts-off-russian-power-2022-10-19/. Accessed 1 Aug. 2024.