page_title: Oil shale in Estonia
section_title: Electricity and heat generation
hierarchical_section_title: Oil shale in Estonia / Economic impact / Electricity and heat generation
caption_attribution_description: English: Eesti Power Station in Narva, EstoniaEesti: Eesti ElektrijaamРусский: Эстонская ЭС
context_page_description: Oil shale is a strategic energy resource that constitutes about 4% of Estonia's gross domestic product. The oil shale industry in Estonia is one of the most developed in the world. In 2012, the country's oil shale industry employed 6,500 people – about 1% of the national workforce. Of all the oil shale fired power stations in the world, the two largest are in Estonia. In 2012, 70% of mined oil shale was used for electricity generation, accounting for about 85% of Estonia's total electricity production. A smaller proportion of the mined oil shale is used to produce shale oil, a type of synthetic oil extracted from shale by pyrolysis, which is sufficient to keep Estonia as the second largest shale oil producer in the world after China. In addition, oil shale and its products are used in Estonia for district heating and as a feedstock material for the cement industry.
  There are two kinds of oil shale in Estonia, both of which are sedimentary rocks laid down during the Ordovician geologic period. Graptolitic argillite is the larger resource, but, because its organic matter content is relatively low, it is not used industrially.
context_section_description: The National Development Plan for the Utilisation of Oil Shale 2008–2015 prioritises oil shale as a resource for ensuring Estonia's electricity supply and  energy security.  However, the share of oil shale in Estonia's electricity and heat production is set to decrease due to the European Union's climate policy as well as the country's recognition of the environmental impact of oil shale-fired power stations and need to diversify the national energy balance. Although Estonia has the right to allocate a gradually decreasing limited number of emission allowances free of charge, this will be phased out by 2020.  According to the International Energy Agency, Estonia should adopt the energy strategy in order to reduce the share of oil shale in the primary energy supply by improving the efficiency of shale-fired power stations and increasing the use of other energy sources such as renewable energy and natural gas.
  In 2016, 73% of oil shale mined in Estonia was used for power generation, and about 90% of Estonia's electricity was generated from oil shale. About 15% of produced electricity was exported to Finland and Latvia.
  Eesti Energia owns the largest oil shale-fuelled power stations (Narva Power Stations) in the world. In addition, a new 300 MW station, which will use circulating fluidised bed boiler technology, is under construction in Auvere.
  In 2010, 11.4% of the heat supply in Estonia was generated by direct combustion of oil shale and 5.88% by combustion of shale oil. Shale oil was used as a fuel by 9.36% of all boiler houses in Estonia.  Heat produced by co-generation at the Balti Power Station is used for district heating of Narva, the third largest city in Estonia with 58,700 inhabitants (2013). The co-generation plants in Kohtla-Järve, Sillamäe, and Kiviõli burn oil shale to produce electrical power and supply district heating to nearby towns. In addition to raw oil shale, the Kohtla-Järve Power Station uses oil shale gas, a by-product of shale oil production, for the same purposes.
caption: Eesti Power Station (2004)
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