Utilitas increased green electricity production by 11% in one year

Estonia’s largest renewable energy producer, Utilitas, produced 2.4 TWh of energy in 2023, 69% of which came from renewable sources. The production of green electricity in the group increased by 11% in a year, while the production of wind electricity increased by 2.5 times, reaching 203,000 MWh.

Utilitas Group companies have wind farms with a total capacity of 122 MW, which are already operating or will reach their full capacity at the beginning of this year. Last autumn, the modern Saarde wind farm, which has the largest production capacity in Estonia, started operating. A wind farm in Aseri, with two wind turbines, is also nearly complete.

“We have added a significant amount of new capacities to the region’s electricity network, which contribute to ensuring a reasonable price, security of supply, and a cleaner environment. In district heating, we were already able to reduce the price of heating all over Estonia last spring thanks to the lower price of our main fuel, i.e. wood chips. To restore their competitiveness, Estonian companies urgently need a larger amount of green energy, primarily in the industry but also other sectors,” explained Priit Koit, CEO of the Utilitas Group.

​Active accession to Utilitas’s efficient district heating system continued last year. A total of 133 buildings were connected across different cities in 2023, including new buildings and those that were converted from another heating method. For example, a bread manufacturer, Leibur, business quarter Arter, and Omniva’s head office joined Utilitas district heating last year.

The European climate monitoring service Copernicus announced that globally 2023 was the hottest calendar year on record. In Europe, temperatures were higher than the long-term average for 11 months of the year. Estonia stood out with an exceptionally long summer, which means that May was already hot and sunny, and September broke the historical heat record. However, the annual heat consumption of Utilitas customers remained the same as the previous year because the autumn months and December were colder than average.

Being a vital service provider, Utilitas prioritizes the security of supply, which in addition to ensuring fuel stocks, means modernizing heating networks. In 2023, Utilitas built and reconstructed nearly 26 kilometers of heat pipelines. The most significant works occurred in the city center, the Kristiine district of Tallinn, and the city of Maardu. As of now, Utilitas has replaced approximately 70% of the entire heating pipeline system, with the goal to reach 100% by 2035. In addition, nearly two kilometers of district cooling central networks were installed in the center of Tallinn.