Continued investments aim to restore the plant's operational capacity, the audit office added in its report.

The Auvere power station is owned by the state's Eesti Energia conglomerate.

Despite significant investments and repair costs exceeding €50 million, it has been largely inoperable for a year-and-a-half, due to exceptional circumstances in the five years and five months following its completion, the audit office noted.

The plant, which was supposed to enhance Estonia's energy security and supply, has faced serious operational issues.

According to the National Audit Office, it remains unclear when the plant will achieve its designed reliability.

Enefit Power, which operates the plant, estimates that at least another €10 million in investments is necessary to reach the planned operational standards.

Breakdowns and standstills

In the five years following its inauguration, the Auvere power plant experienced 97 breakdowns, 531 days of downtime, and an additional 193 days of scheduled maintenance, totaling 724 days of non-operation—3.7 times more than planned—while its reliability fluctuated between 51 percent and 88 percent.

This is well below the intended 92 percent, and the plant's highest reliability level of 88 percent in 2020, was partly due to being in reserve for 87 days amid low market prices.

Costs and fines

Despite these setbacks, substantial financial efforts have been made to keep the plant operational, with the construction contractor paying €134 million in fines to Enefit Power—€106 million for delays and €28 million for failing to meet reliability standards—while Enefit Power estimates a loss of €170 million in variable profit from 2018 to 2023 due to unscheduled repairs, with the greatest losses in 2022 when energy prices were high.

Technical outages

The root cause of most unscheduled standstills, the National Audit Office reported, was defective external heat exchangers, which could not be fixed immediately due to a two-year warranty, but were replaced by the end of 2023.

Future investments and maintenance

Despite ongoing challenges, Enefit Power plans to invest €10 million by 2025, in order to reach 92 percent reliability at Auvere.

Continued maintenance will be needed for the plant's boilers and turbines every 5 to 10 years.

Conclusion

The Auvere power station has underperformed and faces ongoing challenges, but with continued investment and adjustments, it may eventually meet its reliability targets at a high cost, the audit office concluded.

The Auvere Power Plant, located in Ida-Viru County, is an environmentally friendly 600MW oil-fired facility which uses alternative fuel sources including waste wood (woody biomass), peat, and shale gas to replace oil shale.

It has emissions below European benchmark levels, and the capacity to cover over 25 percent of Estonia's electricity consumption when fully operational.

It was commissioned in May 2015 and is owned by Eesti Energia Narva Elektrijaamad.

The plant has generated 2,200,000 MWh of electricity since going on line, with key engineering, procurement, and turbine services provided by GE Power.

Estonia has lacked a nuclear power station up to now, though the Auvere plant has been referred to in some quarters as filling the role in terms of its strategic importance.

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