Minister: No need to rush into offshore wind farm support decision

Coalition party Eesti 200's Chairman Kristina Kallas believes there is no reason to rush into decisions about supporting offshore wind farms. Electricity consumption in the coming years is likely to grow more slowly than estimated by the Ministry of Climate, she said.
The government is discussing the scale of support for onshore and offshore wind farms in the coming years. These decisions are based on how much electricity Estonia will consume over the next 15 years.
Electricity consumption will double by 2035, rising from eight terawatt-hours to 15 terawatt-hours, a forecast from the Ministry of Climate, based on a study by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, suggests.
Calculations from electricity systems operator Elering estimates it to be around 11 terawatt-hours over the next decade.
If electricity consumption does not grow as much as the ministry predicts, the state will have to pay significantly more in subsidies as there would be an excess of production and electricity prices would remain low.

Eesti 200 Chair Kristina Kallas told ERR the government first needs to determine the long-term scale of electricity consumption. If, for example, Elering's lower projections turn out to be accurate, there would be no need to subsidize offshore wind farms at all.
"For offshore wind energy to pay off, large-scale hydrogen production must be developed in Estonia. At the moment, we do not have this market in Estonia, and it's unlikely to emerge in the near future. That is why basing the long-term energy plan on such an optimistic and exaggerated economic forecast is not viable," she said.
Kallas, education minister, stressed decisions regarding onshore wind energy should be made first.
"Offshore wind requires building transmission capacities, which are very expensive. That makes onshore wind cheaper. Our position today is that we should decide as quickly as possible to support onshore wind energy. The subsidies for this are lower, and building the capacities is cheaper. There is no reason to rush the offshore wind decision because the long-term plan hasn't been finalized in all its details," Kallas explained.

Minister of Finance Jürgen Ligi (Reform) made a similar proposal earlier this week.
But Reform Party Chairman Kristen Michal, the former climate minister, said he would currently base decisions on the higher consumption forecast.
"I rely on the estimate provided by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, but we will review and update it again, asking for specifics on who the investors are, what investments are planned for Estonia, and where this energy will be needed. The economic environment is constantly changing; some projects are added, and others fall away. We will ask for updates based on this," Michal said.
Lauri Läänemets, chairman of the coalition partner SDE, said the government should currently work with Elering's forecast. He said the key issue in this debate is onshore wind energy itself and whether the expected amount of capacity will be generated in the coming years.
"The main question is the optimism of the Ministry of Climate, which assumes we will get 2,800 megawatts of onshore wind energy within 10 years. Last week, developers and representatives from the wind energy association visited the government and their message was that instead of 2,800 megawatts, we might end up with 500 to 1,000 megawatts," the minister said.
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Editor: Helen Wright