Enefit Green opens solar farm atop tailings platform at Estonia mine

Estonian renewables company Enefit Green AS (TAL:EGR1T) has formally opened a 3-MW solar farm it built atop a pile of oil shale mining tailings at a mine in Estonia’s Ida-Viru County.

The company made the announcement on Tuesday, highlighting the uniqueness of the project as it used oil shale tailings from the extraction process to build a 27-metre-high (88.6 ft) structure on which the solar farm now sits.

Enefit Green took the final investment decision on the project at the end of 2022, and ploughed close to EUR 2.7 million (USD 2.9m) to build it.

The solar farm is located at the Estonia mine, operated by sister company Enefit Power. Electricity production started at the end of October.

The Estonia mine uses the solar energy for its own needs, mainly to power ventilation and water pumping in the mine.

“Ventilation and pumping out water are important processes that need to be carried out 24/7. The solar park is a good example of valorizing an existing resource or waste material and adding value to an industrial area," said Andres Vainola , chairman of the board of Enefit Power.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.078)

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