The group also reports a Q2 2024 normalized net profit of €109 million, a 114-percent on-year increase.

The group's Q2 2024 normalized earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) was €159 million, an on-year rise of 37 percent.

Eesti Energia's CFO, Marlen Tamm, said the group's sales revenues remained at the same level as the previous year, influenced by a significant rise in renewable energy production and, twinned with a fall in oil shale-generated electricity production from.

Tamm said: "Eesti Energia's focus on low-carbon power generation will enable us to offer more competitively priced electricity to the electricity market and at the same time improve the group's financial performance."

Eesti Energia says its results were positively influenced by increased revenue from renewables generation and improved liquid fuel sales performance, while the fall in the profitability of oil shale electricity worked in the opposite direction.

The group reported first-half of 2024 sales revenues of €915 million (down by 8 percent) and normalized net profits of €197 million euros (up by 2 percent).

Eesti Energia reports it contributed a total of €22 million in taxes and environmental charges in Q2 2024.

CO2 emissions in Q2 2024 came to €37 million at market price.

The group's renewable electricity production rose by 38 percent on year, while the share of renewable electricity in the group's total electricity production came to 59 percent.

Nearly 60 percent of Q2 2024 electricity generated came from renewable sources

Eesti Energia generated 756 GWh of electricity in Q2 2024, unchanged on Q2 2023, though 59 percent of this (447 GWh) was renewable electricity production, which the company says is a record level.

Tamm said: "The growth in the share of renewable electricity in electricity production was influenced by both the low competitiveness of oil shale electricity on the market and the addition of production from Enefit Green's completed and under-construction wind and solar parks."

"We certainly foresee the share of renewable energy continuing to grow in the future, as we are specifically focusing our investments on increasing renewable energy production," Tamm went on, via a press release.

Due to the lower electricity market prices, oil shale power plants were unable to enter the market for much of the time, resulting in a 19 percent fall in electricity production from fossil sources, to 309 GWh in Q2 2024, Eesti Energia reports.

Consequently, the group's CO2 emissions fell by 26 percent (184,000 tonnes) in Q2 2024.

In the quarter, Eesti Energia invested €212 million, a 17-percent rise on year.

Over half of this, €130 million, consisted of subsidiary Enefit Green's investments in the development of renewables.

The second largest investment component, at €35 million, went into developing the electricity grid, to increase the reliability and allow additional solar generation to connect to that grid, Eesti Energia says.

Eesti Energia's liquid fuel production volume fell by 11 percent on year, to 111,000 tonnes.

This was due to equipment maintenance, the company says, adding that sales volume remained at the same level of 124,000 tonnes.

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