The group reports that it earned nearly 60 percent of its total sales revenue outside Estonia.

Renewables have been a particular focus, Eesti Energia CFO Marlen Tamm said.

"Large-scale investments in renewable energy, in the power network and in the development of the chemical industry in Ida-Viru County continued in the first quarter," Tamm said.

Eesti Energia claims that the use of renewables exerts a downward effect on prices.

She said: "The spring has shown that renewable energy helps to lower the price of electricity. In order to boost it, we made our biggest investments in the first quarter, at €92 million – via our renewable energy subsidiary Enefit Green – in the construction of wind and solar parks.

Eesti Energia Q1 2023 quick facts:

• The group's normalized net profit stood at €142.6 million, up 85 percent on year.
• Investments more than doubled on year, to €159.5 million, mostly into construction of wind and solar parks.
• The group invested €92 million in renewables, a rise of €78.5 million, or a near seven-fold rise, on year.
• 42 percent of electricity was produced from renewable sources, with the rise mainly influenced by new wind farms added over the year in Estonia and Lithuania, plus the higher share of wood waste in the production of heat and electricity at Enefit Power's thermal power plants.
• The group invested 53 percent more on year in the power network via Elektrilevi, to a total of €32.2 million.
• The group's network company received a record 2,626 requests from micro-producers, a rise of 400 on year, and a record level.
• 1,331 new electricity producers were connected to the network during the first quarter, of which 1,121 were micro-producers.
•  As of the end of Q1 2023, nearly 17,000 electricity producers, at a capacity of 649 MW, are connected to Elektrilevi's network.
• Electricity sales volume was almost unchanged on year at 2.9 TWh
• 67 percent of electricity was again sold outside Estonia, to Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.
• Retail sales of electricity grew the most in Lithuania (17 percent) and Poland (18 percent).
• Normalized Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) stood at €202.3 million, a rise of 59 percent on year.
• Eesti Energia contributed a total of €127 million in taxes and environmental fees to state coffers, €27 million of which was made up of various direct taxes, plus €100 million as CO2 emission costs at the market price.
• While the group's renewable energy output increased by 30 percent to 539 gigawatt-hours (GWh), total electricity production fell by 21.9 percent to 1,298 GWh.
• The fall in electricity production was mainly influenced by low market prices of electricity and high prices of CO2 emission quotas, meaning oil shale plants with high carbon emissions could not enter the market.
• Output from the group's subsidiary, Enefit Power, accounted for approximately 70 percent of all electricity produced in Estonia.
• Nearly 45 percent of this was produced at the Auvere Power Plant.

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