SDE, Eesti 200 scratching heads over climate ministry's wind energy plan
Leaders of the Eesti 200 and Social Democratic (SDE) parties both say that there is insufficient information to go on in order to make a decision right now on climate ministry proposals for offshore wind power support.
Both parties say that a final decision on support cannot be made right now, given the lack of clarity where the projected significant increase in energy consumption is coming from – from 2-4TWh, to 8TWh, projected to in over 15 Twh in 2035 (all types of generation)
The Ministry of Climate at the moment will provide support for 2 Twh of offshore wind farm production output, instead of the previously planned 4 Twh, "Aktuaalne Kaamera" reported.
Coalition partners do not understand the basis for these calculations and why the figure is now 2TWh.
Eesti 200 chair and Education Minister Kristina Kallas said: "Today, we consume about eight terawatt-hours, and the forecast is 15.4. That is an enormous increase in consumption by 2035."
SDE leader and Interior Minister Lauri Läänemets concurred, sayign "we cannot build Estonia's energy sector just on guesswork," and that while things will be clearer in a year or two, "It might be wise for us to ask Europe for larger state aid volumes today."
The government discussed the future energy plan proposed by Minister of Climate Yoko Alender (Reform), including wind energy, who said: "Analysis commissioned by the Ministry of Climate are based on the assumption that Estonia will have 4 Twh of offshore wind energy by the end of 2033, while electricity consumption of all kinds will be doubled by 2035 compared with today's figure of 8TWh.
A significant increase in demand is a prerequisite to avoiding a rise in the renewable energy fee, is is argued.
"If this growth does not happen, it poses a risk that the overall electricity price will not remain at the low level we have assumed in our analysis," Alender added.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Aleksander Krjukov
Source: 'Aktuaalne kaamera,' reporter Mart Linnart.