The coalition has agreed on how to support Eesti Energia for the production of green energy from biomass. Next week, the Riigikogu plans to pass a bill that would enable the support of the production of 1,000 gigawatt-hours of electricity from biomass in Eesti Energia’s power plants over the next two years.
Mart Vorklaev, chairman of the parliamentary group of the Reform Party, said he considered the compromise agreed in the coalition that permitted the use of a limited amount of low-quality wood at Estonian state-owned energy group Eesti Energia’s power plants over the course of two years to be reasonable.
“This is a reasonable compromise, where in addition to the electricity produced from renewable fuels, we will also get heat for the buildings of the city of Narva,” Vorklaev said.
He also referred to a statement made by the minister of economic affairs and infrastructure that the subsidy was capped at EUR 10 per megawatt-hour, while the current cogeneration plants received subsidies of EUR 53.7 per megawatt-hour. Considering the production volume of 400 GWh/a, the annual support would be approximately 4 million euros.
Vorklaev added that according to the law amendment, the fuel used in production must meet the sustainability criteria. If residual wood is used in production, such raw material must comply with the waste hierarchy, meaning there must be no alternative use to this raw material other than energy production.
The parliamentary group chair said that in the long run, heat production must be built in Narva, which will disconnect the region from oil shale energy and which could be completed until 2025.
“The current compromise is a temporary measure for the next two years,” Vorklaev said. (ERR/Business World Magazine)