Gren to build two 30-megawatt power plants in Estonia
Energy company Gren will build two 30-megawatt power plants in Estonia, in Tartu and Ida-Viru County, to provide critical frequency reserves for the national and Baltic grids.
The Tartu and Ahtme plants will run on natural gas, with plans to accommodate biomethane and hydrogen in the future. Their main goal is to support grid reliability, essential for Estonia and the wider Baltic region.
The plants are expected to be completed by the end of 2027.
Estonian transmission system operator (TSO) Elering ran a public procurement to secure enough frequency reserves for the medium term, receiving 13 bids totaling 677 megawatts (MW). The operator will purchase 236 MW from five suppliers, including Gren.
Margo Külaots, Gren's country manager for Estonia, said the company's experience with district heating and cooling aligns with providing frequency reserves. The company already operates two modern cogeneration plants capable of producing electricity and heat simultaneously.
"We will now utilize this experience to ensure frequency reserves as well," he said.
Elering board member Erkki Sapp said flexible, fast-rampin plants are vital for real-time grid management and will strengthen overall supply security. He noted that in the Continental Europe Synchronous Area (CESA), "it is critically important to have enough fast-responding power plants to maintain system balance."
Frequency reserves help maintain balance in the electricity system. Without them, the power grid could fail in extreme cases.
Based in Northern Europe, Gren currently operates in the Baltic states, Nordic countries and the U.K.
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Editor: Mirjam Mäekivi, Aili Vahtla
