Daily guide · EE · 2026-08-17
What solar actually earned per MWh in Estonia this week
All numbers computed from the week's published auction results at publication and frozen — this article is an honest snapshot, not a page that rewrites itself. Reproduce via the API.
Estonian solar captured an average of 31,42 EUR/MWh this week, against a baseload average of 43,79 EUR/MWh, for a capture rate of 0,75. The headline is how much the underlying price level drove earnings rather than solar's relative performance. On 13 August, capture reached 87,52 EUR/MWh as baseload spiked to 127,99 EUR/MWh, while the quieter days at the start and end of the week saw capture fall to 9,13 and 7,01 EUR/MWh respectively.
Capture rate and absolute earnings moved in different directions. The best capture rate of the week, 0,90 on 15 August, came on a modest day with baseload at 23,14 EUR/MWh, whereas the highest-earning day carried a rate of just 0,68. For solar operators, this is a reminder that a strong capture rate does not guarantee strong revenue when the price floor is low.
The concrete takeaway: this week's solar revenue was set by market price levels, not by how well solar timed the day. With peak solar output ranging only between 0,4 and 0,7 GW, exposure to those high-price days mattered more than incremental capture efficiency.
Solar has a pricing problem it created itself: every panel in EE produces at the same hours, so the more the fleet generates, the lower the price each MWh fetches. The number that captures this is the capture price — the generation-weighted price solar actually earned — and the capture rate, that price as a share of the plain average. Brochures quote the average; revenue arrives at the capture price. This week, measured on real generation and auction data:
31.42
€/MWh solar capture price this week (generation-weighted)
43.79
€/MWh baseload average — the number the brochure quotes
75%
capture rate — what solar keeps of the average price
Day by day
| Day | Capture €/MWh | Baseload €/MWh | Capture rate | Peak solar |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-08-10 | 9.13 | 12.19 | 75% | 0.6 GW |
| 2026-08-11 | 9.86 | 15.21 | 65% | 0.4 GW |
| 2026-08-12 | 35.19 | 45.87 | 77% | 0.6 GW |
| 2026-08-13 | 87.52 | 127.99 | 68% | 0.7 GW |
| 2026-08-14 | 50.43 | 73.21 | 69% | 0.6 GW |
| 2026-08-15 | 20.78 | 23.14 | 90% | 0.5 GW |
| 2026-08-16 | 7.01 | 8.92 | 79% | 0.5 GW |
Capture = Σ(hourly price × solar MW) / Σ(solar MW), from realized generation (ENTSO-E A75) and published auction results. Sunny days push the rate DOWN — that's the cannibalization.
Why this number runs businesses
If you're valuing a PPA, sizing a solar+storage project, or hedging merchant exposure, the capture
rate — not the average price — is your revenue line. One week is weather noise; the trend is the
signal: GET /v1/capture/EE?technology=solar&months=24
returns two years of monthly capture prices and rates, and
POST /v1/ppa/value backcasts a pay-as-produced PPA at your strike.
Both are on the Scale tier (Pro gets a teaser);
battery owners can flip the same effect into revenue — see the
battery arbitrage guide for what the storage side earned this week.
Method & citation. Prices are hourly means of published day-ahead auction results (native 15-minute periods averaged; ENTSO-E/SMARD, attributed). Wholesale-price component only — grid fees and taxes come on top and vary by supplier. Cite as "Voltcast Research, voltcast.com/guides/solar-capture-ee-2026-08-17".
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