A co-operative solar park has just opened in Obinitsa, Setomaa, marking the genesis of community-based energy in Estonia.
One of the first steps towards community-owned energy in Estonia, the project is a response to spiralling energy costs, with a group of residents in Obinitsa coming together to form an energy co-operative in their own neighbourhood.
Last week, they began generating their own power for the first time.
The project takes the form of a rooftop solar array, which has enough capacity for 62kW of energy generation, a 50-kW inverter plus 50kW of battery storage. The array was installed by Oma Elekter, a newly formed energy co-op that has 15 members and has been supported with funding from EU and other regional partners.
Founded in 2024, it reportedly took around two years for Oma Elekter to get up and running. It sits within a wider co-operation network that has been growing over the last 10 years in Setomaa which encompasses “tourism, berries, craft associations, and Seto cuisine”.
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Markus Männik, one of Oma Elekter’s leaders, told a recent conference: “The Seto example is a good one of how what was envisioned 10 years ago has grown significantly larger and better. It was worth giving it a try.”
This wider connection is evident in the Obinitsa project’s location: the South Estonian Garden Produce Processing Centre. This is a community-oriented processing facility project set to open later this year which aims to enable local agricultural producers to “preserve, process, and market their products” and supply fresh organic food to local schools. The energy generated by the solar project will go directly to powering the facility.
It could be the first of many such co-operative energy projects in Estonia, which is gradually seeing increasing momentum behind community-driven renewable energy projects. For example, Estonia’s first energy co-operative, TÜ Energiaühistu, is currently focused on setting up community-owned solar and wind parks, allowing residents to invest and earn stable income from them.
And, in Jõgeva County, there are already efforts under way to build a co-operative energy community which aims to install a similar rooftop energy project.
