Eesti Energia

Eesti Energia was founded in 1939. In 1998, it was reorganized from the state enterprise to a private limited company. In 1998–1999, two distribution companies (Läänemaa Eletrivõrk and Narva Elektrivõrk) were separated from Eesti Energia and privatized.

In 1995, the Government of Estonia started negotiations with NRG Energy, a subsidiary of Northern States Power Company, to create a joint venture on the basis of Narva Power Plants, a subsidiary of Eesti Energia. According to the basic terms of sale, agreed in 2000, NRG Energy was to acquire 49% stake in Narva Power Plants. In addition, at that time Narva Power Plants owned also 51% stake in the oil-shale mining company Eesti Põlevkivi. The proposed deal got a strong public and political opposition. The deal was cancelled by the Government on 8 January 2002 after NRG Energy failed to secure financing for the deal by the agreed-upon deadline. On 21 August 2002 NRG Energy filed to the London court claiming £100 million compensation for damages from the cancelled deal; however this claim was rejected.

In 1999, Government handed 51% of shares of Eesti Põlevkivi to Narva Elektrijaamad. In 2003, Government transferred remained 49% stake in Eesti Põlevkivi to Eesti Energia. Also Narva Elektrijaamad-owned 51% stake was transferred to Eesti Energia and Eesti Põlevkivi became a fully owned subsidiary of Eesti Energia.

In 2000, Eesti Energia and Latvenergo announced a plan to merge companies to create a new Baltic Power Group. However, this deal was halted due to Latvian legislation forbidding privatization of Latvenergo and uncertainties around the NRG deal.

In 2003, Eesti Energia tried to privatize Lithuanian distribution company RST. Although Eesti Energia fulfilled the privatization criteria and was the only bidder at the final stage of privatization, the privatization was halted by the Lithuanian Government.

On 1 December 2005, during his visit to Estonia, Lithuanian Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas met with the CEO of Eesti Energia Sandor Liive to discuss Eesti Energia's participation in the proposed Visaginas Nuclear Power Plant project. On 8 March 2006, the heads of Lietuvos Energija, Eesti Energia and Latvenergo during their meeting in Ignalina signed a memorandum of understanding on the preparation for construction of a new nuclear reactor in Lithuania. Eesti Energia negotiated for six years; however, the project was put on hold after government change in Lithuania at the end of 2012.

In 2006, Eesti Energia started to trade at Nord Pool Spot power exchange by acquiring Finnish trading company Solidus Oy. At the same year it started to sell electricity in Latvia and one year later in Lithuania. The company started its international oil shale activities in 2006. That year its subsidiary Oil Shale Energy of Jordan was created for the shale oil development project in Jordan. The memorandum of understanding between Eesti Energia and Government of Jordan was signed on 5 November 2006. The concession agreement was signed on 11 May 2010 in the presence of Jordanian and Estonian prime ministers Samir Zaid al-Rifai and Andrus Ansip. In March 2011, it acquired 100% shares of the Utah-based Oil Shale Exploration Company.

To implement the EU 3rd energy package, on 28 August 2009 Government decided to separate and buy-out the transmission system operator Elering from Eesti Energia. The transaction was concluded on 28 January 2010.

Operations

Eesti Energia produces and sells electricity, heat and fuel (oil shale and shale oil) and provides customer and consulting services. The company is engaged in the oil shale mining through its subsidiary Enefit Kaevandused, which extracts oil shale by opencast mining in the Narva quarry and by underground mining in the Estonia mine.

Eesti Energia produces electrical power and heat in Narva Power Plants, which provides around 95% of the electrical energy consumed in Estonia and supplies the whole town of Narva with heat.

For shale oil production, Eesti Energia operates the Narva Oil Plant, which uses a Galoter-type solid heat carrier technology process. The plant operates two Enefit-140 shale oil units. The plant produces about 1.4 million tonnes of shale oil per year. As of 2013, the new-generation Enefit280 plant is in hot-commissioning process.

International activities

In Jordan, its subsidiary Jordan Oil Shale Energy Company is preparing construction of a shale oil plant with capacity of 36,000 barrels per day (5,700 m3/d). The shale oil plant will use the Enefit processing technology; construction is slated to begin by 2015. Its another subsidiary in Jordan, Attarat Power Company, is planning to build a 460 MW oil-shale-fired power plant at Attarat Umm Ghudran. The power station is expected to be operational by 2016, however construction started in 2017 with an expected completion for 2021.