Estonia: a lot of heat generated from woody biomass

Dealer AUTRA OÜ benefits from energy independence from Russia

Tallinn, Estonia (ghm). Estonia is one of the least populated countries in Europe. Only about 1.3 million people live in the small Baltic state, which has only been independent since 1991. Since more than half of the country is covered with forest, about half of the population lives in the capital Tallinn. JENZ dealer AUTRA OÜ is also headquartered in the country's largest city. Since 2004, the com-pany, which is now almost 30 years old, has been responsible for distributing JENZ machines on the Estonian market.

"We had initial contact with JENZ as early as 2003. The chemistry between our two family businesses was right from the beginning," says Toomas Triisa, who has been managing director of AUTRA for nine years. He took over the company in 2010 from his father Jüri Triisa, who retired. At the beginning of the
cooperation in 2004 it was unclear how the demand on the Estonian market should be assessed. "For the dealer's sake we were hoping that at least one JENZ machine would go to Estonia every year," recalls Allan Laurimäe,
JENZ supervisor responsible for the Baltic region, who accompanied the partnership from the beginning."In 2004/2005, AUTRA received a customer request for a number of HEM 561 DQ Trucks. We didn't really take the enquiry seriously, as none of us believed that this contract would actually be realized. But the little-known Baltic country surprised us. Precisely this customer owns JENZ chippers in double figures."

The most important resource is wood
The main energy sources for heat genera-tion in Estonia are wood (45.6 %) and natural gas (40.5 %). Since the country wants to be as energy-independent as possible from Russia, bioenergy has an enormous significance as an energy source. Estonia has completely renounced nuclear power and hydropower. In Estonia the share of energy from renewable sources reached almost 30 % of the gross final energy consumption in 2017. For comparison, Germany only manages a share of 16 %. The majority of Estonian heat production already comes from wood combustion. "And the market for woodchippings continues to grow. In Estonia, it is assumed that the energy generated by woodchippings and biomasses will continue to develop positively," says Triisa.

At present, Autra has already made a name in Estonia. According to Triisa, JENZ shredders are among the top three leading companies in a competitive comparison. In the mobile woodchipper sector the managing director even sees JENZ as a market leader. The HEM 583/593 series, especially, has established itself in Estonia, whether as a PTO or truck chipper. "The HEM 583 R Truck on a Volvo chassis is in high demand among our customers," is how Toomas Triisa describes the Estonian market situation. JENZ usually builds on a MAN chassis, but according to Allan Laurimäe the interest of Estonian customers is also strongly focused on chassis from the old-established Scandinavian brands Volvo and Scania: "This demand is probably due to the higher market share of these companies, which is probably justified by the better service and maintenance." Toomas Triisa knows that especially these service and maintenance options give his customers enormous security and is glad that "with JENZ he has found a trustworthy partner with whom the special requirements of the customers can be served."