Enefit Power has started up the Baltic power station in Narva and brought it onto the market. This will mean cheaper district heating for the people of Narva and greater security of supply for Estonia. At the same time, negotiations are ongoing with the Environmental Board to avoid exceeding emission standards.

Enefit Power estimates that the Baltic power plant could remain in operation until March, as electricity prices are higher in winter and the oil shale plant will have more opportunities to enter the market.

Negotiations are also ongoing in parallel with the Environmental Board regarding the best way to control emissions from starting up the plant. A quicker solution would be to use biomass. Enefit is asking the Environmental Board to allow a transitional period of a few years in order to find a technical solution.

"We have different limits for emissions. So far we have been within these limits. This has been achieved primarily through the use of wood biomass fuel," explained Head of Enefit Power Lauri Karp.

"But we also have, as part of the negotiations, the installation of additional filters at the Baltic power plant, and we see this over a three to four year period. These exceedances occur at the point of starting the plant up, we have been saying all along that this unstable regime creates emissions," Karp added-

"If it is stable and the fuel, for example the biofuel that we add, is clean and of good quality, then we should be well within that limit. But there have certainly been cases where we have been over the limit, and to prevent this we need to think about technical solutions."

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