Marlen Tamm, the CFO of Eesti Energia , explained that although the group’s sales revenue and profit decreased compared to last year, it was a good quarter in terms of operating cash flow. ’Strong cash flow allows us to continue making strategically necessary investments to increase the share of clean and affordable electricity and to modernise the electrical grid,’ Tamm noted.

In the first quarter, electricity market prices decreased by 9 percent in Estonia, 13 percent in Latvia, 14 percent in Lithuania, 38 percent in Poland and 6 percent in Finland. According to Tamm, this was also the reason that most affected the decrease in the company’s sales revenue and profit.

The highest renewable electricity production in history

In the first quarter, the Eesti Energia Group produced 1225 gigawatt-hours of electricity, with a record-breaking 646 gigawatt-hours generated from renewable sources. ‘We continue to see strong demand for clean and affordable electricity. In the first quarter, we produced a record amount of green energy and we see that with the support of additional production capacities, the Group's renewable electricity production will continue to grow rapidly in the future,’ Tamm explained.

As a result of low electricity and gas market prices, the group’s electricity production from non-renewable sources decreased by 24 percent to 579 gigawatt-hours in the first quarter. Due to the decrease in fossil electricity production and the 20 percent increase in renewable electricity production, renewable electricity accounted for 53 percent of the group. A year earlier, renewable electricity production accounted for 42 percent of the total output for the quarter.

The focus of investments is on renewable energy and the electrical grid

The group’s investments were 168 million euros. According to Tamm, the company’s current focus is on completing ongoing investments. ’Currently, we are focusing on completing the wind and solar farms under construction by Enefit Green, which will contribute to bringing more affordable and environmentally sustainable electricity to the market in the future. Additionally, the completion of wind and solar farms as well as the Enefit 280-2 pyrolysis plant would help ensure stable cash flow for the group,’ Tamm explained. ‘This would help continue strategically important investments in the future as well,’ Tamm added.

More than half of the group’s investments, 105 million euros, were directed towards Enefit Green’s development of wind and solar farms. The second largest part, 22 million euros, was invested in the development of the electrical grid.

The production volume and sales volume of liquid fuels remained at a similar level as last year in the first quarter, at 129 thousand tonnes and 110 thousand tonnes, respectively.

The group’s normalised EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) was 137 million euros in the first quarter, which is 32 percent lower than in the same period last year. The group’s normalised net profit was 89 million euros, which is 38 percent lower than last year. The results were mostly influenced by the decrease in electricity prices across the entire Baltic Sea region and therefore a smaller electricity production from oil shale-fired generation units.

In the first quarter of 2024, Eesti Energia contributed a total of 83 million euros in taxes and environmental charges. Out of this amount, 25 million euros constituted various direct taxes, while 58 million euros represented the CO2 emission costs at market price.

Eesti Energia’s performance in Q1:

\*Normalised result that does not include the revaluation of derivatives