Estonia installed 105 MW of solar in 2025, according to figures compiled by the Estonian Chamber of Renewable Energy (Eesti Taastuvenergia Koda).
The figure is down on 2024’s record year for solar deployment in Estonia, when 513 MW was added, and takes cumulative capacity to around 1,430 MW.
Silver Sillak, Eesti Taastuvenergia Koda director, told pv magazine Estonia is approaching the peak of its solar boom that started around ten years ago, adding that last year’s result can still be considered a significant addition considering the size of the Estonian market.
He cited favourable government policy, declining technology costs, simple permitting and installation procedures, increasing electricity deficits and high fossil electricity prices as the main market drivers in the Estonian solar market.
“The solar boom initially started from the residential segment, but the market has in recent years evolved towards more utility-scale solar parks,” Sillak said. The largest project to come online last year was the 53 MW Pihlaka solar park in the northern municipality of Anija, developed by Estonian renewable energy platform KC Energy.
Estonia appears on track to add more solar this year than last year, helped by the 244 MW Risti solar and battery hybrid park, which is currently under construction in northwestern Estonia by Tallinn-headquartered developer Sunly. The project is due for completion in the summer.
Sillak said Estonia is unlikely to see solar projects as big as the Risti park for “at least a while”, with electricity market spot prices during summer indicating that the market is reaching saturation. The average electricity spot market price during sunny hours last year was around €46.00 ($53.42)/MWh, Sillak said, which he added is around half of the average price for the whole year.
“Negative electricity prices due to increased solar production are nudging producers to supplement solar parks with batteries,” he explained. “The main growth potential of the solar sector in Estonia is in combination with electricity storage or if the electricity demand increases due to electrification of existing consumption or new industrial investments. Several producers already invested millions of euros in building batteries near their solar parks in 2025.”
Estonia held five renewable energy auctions between 2019 and 2023, which Sillak said were designed to favour small- to medium-scale solar projects and increase competition. He explained these auctions helped unlock many of the investments in Estonia’s solar market and with the market now at a mature stage, no further auctions are anticipated. Around 60% of Estonia’s solar capacity has been built without any state aid.
When asked what regulatory changes could support Estonia’s solar market, Sillak said the country should accelerate the electrification of transport, industry and heat sectors and continue recent efforts to attract new industrial investors. “This would increase demand for solar electricity and help create a market for solar power purchase agreements,” he told pv magazine.
Sillak also pointed towards the launch of the Baltic balancing capacity market in early 2025 after the Baltic States desynchronized from the Russian electricity grid and connected with the Continental Europe grid. He explained the change brought a new requirement to pay for balancing the electricity grid frequency via a fee collected from both consumers and producers, which is negatively affecting the revenue of some solar projects.
“The government should find a long term and sustainable solution for financing the reserve capacity,” Sillak suggested.
Last month, Estonia's largest operational solar park, the 77.5 MW Kirikmäe solar project in the southwest of the country, began adding a 55 MW/250 MWh battery energy storage system.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.