Elering AS (former name: OÜ Põhivõrk) is a national
transmission system operator for
electricity
Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...
and
natural gas
Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...
with headquarters in
Tallinn
Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...
,
Estonia
Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...
. The managing director of Elering is
Taavi Veskimägi.
[
]
History
Elering was established on 1 November 1998 under the name of Põhivõrk as an operating unit of the Estonian national power company
Eesti Energia
Eesti Energia AS is a public limited energy company in Estonia with its headquarters in Tallinn. It is the world's biggest oil shale to energy company. The company was founded in 1939. As of 2014, it operates in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Fi ...
. On 1 April 2004, it became a
private limited company
A private limited company is any type of business entity in Privately held company, "private" ownership used in many jurisdictions, in contrast to a Public company, publicly listed company, with some differences from country to country. Example ...
, OÜ Põhivõrk, as a subsidiary of Eesti Energia. On 10 June 2009, the company changed its name to Elering. To implement the
EU 3rd energy package, the
Government of Estonia
The Government of the Republic of Estonia (''Estonian language, Estonian: Vabariigi Valitsus'') is the cabinet (government), cabinet of Estonia. Under the Constitution of Estonia, Constitution, it exercises executive power pursuant to the Cons ...
decided on 28 August 2009 to go for an ownership unbundling and to buy out Elering from Eesti Energia.
[
] The transaction was concluded on 28 January 2010.
[
] On 2 February 2010, Elering signed an agreement with
Nord Pool Spot
Nord Pool AS is a pan-European power exchange. Nord Pool has its main office in Oslo and further offices in Stockholm, Helsinki, Tallinn and London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, lar ...
to create the Nord Pool Spot
Estlink price area, starting from 1 April 2010.
[
] On 25 February 2011, Elering was transformed to a
public limited company
A public limited company (legally abbreviated to PLC or plc) is a type of public company under United Kingdom company law, some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth jurisdictions, and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is a limited liability co ...
, AS Elering.
[
]
In November 2014, Elering entered the natural gas transmission market by acquiring a majority stake in the holding company AS Võrguteenus Valdus, an owner of EG Võrguteenus (later renamed: Elering Gaas).
[
] EG Võrguteenus was established in 2005 as a subsidiary of
Eesti Gaas. Originally it operated both—a transmission network and a distribution network—but in 2013 the distribution network was separated from the company. In November 2013, to implement the EU 3rd energy package EG Võrguteenus was separated from Eesti Gaas.
[
] In June 2015, Elering acquired the stake which was owned by
Gazprom
PJSC Gazprom ( rus, Газпром, , ɡɐsˈprom) is a Russian State-owned enterprise, majority state-owned multinational Energy industry, energy corporation headquartered in the Lakhta Center in Saint Petersburg. The Gazprom name is a contract ...
, and in September 2015, Elering acquired the stake which was owned by
Itera Latvija in AS Võrguteenus Valdus shares.
[
][
] In December 2015, after acquiring shares owned by minority shareholders of AS Võrguteenus Valdus Elering decided to merge Elering Gas and Võrguteenus Valdus into Elering.
[
]
On 24 May 2019, Elering along with Latvian and Lithuanian transmission system operators
Augstsprieguma tīkls and
Litgrid signed an agreement to
join the synchronous electricity grid of Continental Europe.
[
]
In 2020, the company will pay dividends of 25.6 million euros.
Electricity market
Elering is an operator of the Estonian electricity transmission grid, which is synchronized with BRELL, a part of the
unified electricity system of Russia. Together with Latvian and Lithuanian transmission system operators
Augstsprieguma tīkls and
Litgrid, Elering is planning to move the Baltic electricity grid from BRELL to the synchronous electricity grid of Continental Europe by 2025.
[
Together with the transmission system operator of ]Finland
Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...
, Fingrid, Elering is preparing the construction of the Estlink-2 cable between Estonia and Finland.[
] Elering also operates interconnections between Estonia and Latvia, between Estonia and Russia, and Estlink interconnections between Estonia and Finland.
Elering is a member of the .[
]
Natural gas market
Elering is the natural gas transmission system operator of Estonia. Together with Finnish state-owned company Baltic Connector OY, Elering is developing the undersea gas pipeline Balticconnector
Balticconnector is a bi-directional natural gas pipeline between Ingå, Finland and Paldiski, Estonia operated by Gasgrid Finland and Elering. It connects the Estonian and Finnish gas grids, and provides Finland with access to the Inčukaln ...
between Estonia and Finland.[
]
See also
* Energy in Estonia
* Bog Fox
References
External links
*
{{European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity
Natural gas companies of Estonia
Electric power transmission system operators in Estonia
Natural gas pipeline companies
Estonian companies established in 1998
Energy companies established in 1998
Government-owned companies of Estonia
Government-owned energy companies