Enefit Power, which is part of the Eesti Energia group, announced in November that it plans to start up the Enefit 280-2 oil plant in Auvere in early 2025.

Lauri Karp, chair of the company's management board, confirmed to ERR that the plant's construction is nearing completion with equipment installation and set-up procedures now underway.

"The installation of the plant's equipment is scheduled to be completed in the first quarter of 2025," Karp said. "This will be followed by cold start, which is a control activity. Once the cold start has been successfully completed, it will be safe to begin the actual hot start of the equipment, meaning fuel will be added to the system. After the start-up, a multi-stage testing and factory set up process begins, which, if and when it is completed successfully, will eventually lead to full capacity."

Karp specified that around 30 percent of the plant's systems are currently ready for hot start up , with the remaining 70 percent still in need of further work.

At full capacity, the plant will produce around 268,000 tonnes of liquid fuels per year, and up to 500 jobs will be directly and indirectly linked to the facility, Karp said.

"In addition to that, Estonia's security of electricity supply and the oil industry are closely linked," Karp said. "Waste gas, a by-product of the oil industry, is an important fuel for replacing solid oil shale. The oil industry also enables the price of oil shale to be kept relatively stable due to economies of scale, which in turn helps keep the price of securing supply from oil shale plants lower."

Litigation continues

Eesti Energia laid the foundation stone for the new plant in November 2021. However, its construction was the subject of heated disputes in 2023. The government eventually the decided to amend the law to allow related to granting of temporary complex permits, which meant that Enefit Power was able to submit a new application for the construction permit required.

Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal (Reform), who was minister of climate at that time, said the oil shale plant could operate until 2035 in accordance with current climate targets.

The condition was that the environmental permit would be granted for a limited period. The  and the Environmental Board granted Enefit Power's a ten-year permit for the plant on the condition that the company moves step by step towards reducing its environmental impact.

The complex permit granted to the oil plant was challenged in court by the NGO Loodusvõlu, which was granted interim relief by the court. In July 2024, Tallinn Administrative Court annulled the preliminary ruling, meaning the plant can operate while the case is pending.

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