On Tuesday, Eesti Energia announced to the Nord Pool power exchange that it has withdrawn its older power generation units from the market due to emissions restrictions outlined in its environmental permit. The exact timing of the withdrawal will depend on further approvals and decisions.

According to the announcement, the third, fourth, sixth and eighth units of the Estonia power plant, with a total capacity of 693 MW, are to be withdrawn from the market. The fifth unit of the Estonia power plant with a capacity of 173 MW and the Auvere power plant with a capacity of 274 MW currently remain on the market.

Mattias Kaiv, head of communications at Eesti Energia, told ERR that the company has withdrawn its older units from the market because the Estonian Ministry of Climate had communicated that there will be zero tolerance for exceeding environmental emissions.

However, emissions from starting up and shutting down older units may exceed environmental standard limits, Kaiv said. Therefore, older units will stay off the market until a further decision is taken. According to Kaiv, this could either mean a change to the limit values or an additional investment to reduce emissions from older units.

Kaiv, added thatit will still be possible to start up the units in question and use them for power generation should the need arise. He also said that Eesti Energia will continue to meet the owner's (in this case, the Estonian state – ed.) expectations of keeping 1,000 megawatts of capacity in reserve.

Eesti Energia's general meeting is chaired by Minister of Finance Jürgen Ligi (Reform). Ligi told ERR that he was not in a position to comment on Eesti Energia's decision by phone, but promised to consider producing a written comment at a later point.

Last Thursday, legal firm Sorainen published a special audit report based on Eesti Energia's own internal reports, prepared in cooperation with Grant Thorton. The report found that Eesti Energia's older units had frequently violated environmental requirements.

Following the report, the Estonian Environmental Board announced it was considering taking legal action against the company.

At the beginning of November, the Ministry of Climate announced that it was prepared to pay Eesti Energia up to €35 million a year for maintaining its reserve capacity. Up to now, the reserve capacity has been maintained using Eesti Energia's own resources.

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