Biofuels in Estonia
General
The
Estonian energy supply is mainly from the indigenous fossil fuel oil
shale, a situation that only occurs in a few countries worldwide.
Regarding renewables, the additional potential is mainly in biomass,
biogas, wind power and small hydropower.
The Estonian energy
policy is described in the Estonian Longterm Public Fuel and Energy
Sector Development Plan and the Development Plan for Electricity
Sector until 2015. According to these documents, the overall share of
renewable electricity aimed at is 8% in 2015 and 10% in 2020. The
following technology-specific targets are mentioned:
|
2010 |
2015 |
| Wind power |
2.2% |
5.4% |
| Biomass |
2.5% |
3.0% |
| Other renewables (landfill gas and hydropower) |
0.4% |
0.5% |
According to the Directive
2009/28/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the
promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources the target for
the share of energy from renewable sources in gross final consumption
of energy in the year 2020 for Estonia is 25% (in the year 2005 the
share was 18.0%). The Directive has a mandatory 10 % target for
transport to be achieved by all Member States, which refers to
renewable sources as a whole, not biofuels alone.
Renewable energy projections according to the National Renewable Energy Action Plan for Estonia
The
National Renewable Energy Action Plan (NREAP) for Estonia was submitted
in December 2010. The target according to Annex I of Directive
2009/28/EC is 25% for the year 2020 and the projected NREAP share in
that year exactly matches the target. According to the
projection, the most important contribution in the year 2020 is
expected from biomass (renewable heating and cooling) (607 ktoe, 70% of
all renewable energy). Second important contribution is expected from
wind power (1.5 TWh or 132 ktoe, 15% of all renewable energy). The
third largest contribution is from biodiesel (renewable transport) (51
ktoe, 6% of all renewable energy). Wind power contributes with 0.7 GW
(1.5 TWh) in the year 2020 (onshore wind 0.4 GW and 1.0 TWh, offshore
wind 0.3 GW and 0.6 TWh). No solar PV nor solar thermal is projected
for 2020. The two most important biofuels are projected to contribute
51 ktoe (biodiesel) and 38 ktoe (bioethanol / bio-ETBE) by 2020. For
solid biomass and biogas no projections have been made in the Estonian
Action Plan.
RES – Transport : biofuels
Biofuel
is exempt from excise duty without any conditions since July 2005.
Biofuel blends are exept from excise duty up to the share of biofuels
in the mix. A biofuel permit granted for six years by the Tax
and
Customs Board gives the right to produce biofuel, import it into
Estonia and release it for consumption free of excise duty. It obliges
the beneficiary together with the application to present specifications
and a yearly report. This might justify that no pure or blended biofuel
has been sold or consumed for transport purposes in Estonia until the
end of 2005. 4 permits were issued in the beginning of 2006 giving the
right to produce biofuels.
Also, environmental charges are collected, regulated by the
Environmental Charges Act (ECA). No CO2 pollution charge is imposed on enterprises utilizing biofuel.
First of all, 5% of all fuels used in transport are to be from renewable sources
in 2020. Secondly, if 50% of the vehicles used for public transport is based on
renewable energy, this will bring along an increase of approximately 2% in the
use of biofuels. Thirdly, according to the current assessment the fuel need of
vehicles working on power and biogas and using ‘other renewable energy sources’
covers a very small part of the fuels used in transport. It is envisioned that
1% of the energy used in transport is from ‘alternative renewable sources’ in
2020. Fourthly, Estonia develops policies to encourage buyers to prefer
environmentally friendly solutions when choosing vehicles, which may incur
another 1% increase in the share of renewables.
Furthermore, Estonia
receives financial means from the EU budget for Structural Funds, imple-mented
through the Estonian National Development Plan (NDP). Reducing environmental
im-pact of the energy sector, improving efficiency and increasing the share of
renewable energy are goals. During the period of 2004 to 2006, the Centre
approved 14 renewable energy projects and paid out grants totalling
approximately EUR 2.7 million. For the period 2007 to 2013, the National
Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) has been announced, which has a focus on
in-vestments for flexible (RES) cogeneration plants and grid connection
infrastructure.
Future programme changes expected
An
ecological tax reform was initiated in Estonia in 2005, and is to be
carried out by 2013. In the energy sector, one of the priorities of
ecological tax reform is to promote renewable energy and the production
of RES-E in particular.
Sources
Imbi Jürgen, Tark & Co, Estonia, I.E.L.T.R. ISSUE
10, 2007
EurObserv’ER interactive policy database, http://www.eurobserv-er.org (status 2007)
Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications,
http://www.mkm.ee (sourced September 2008)
Directive 2009/28/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of
23 April 2009 on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable
sources and amending and subsequently repealing Directives 2001/77/EC
and 2003/30/EC (Entry into force on June 25th, 2009), download from
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32009L0028:EN:NOT
The National Renewable Energy Action Plans (NREAPs) are all published on the Transparency Platform on Renewable Energy: http://ec.europa.eu/energy/renewables/transparency_platform/action_plan_en.htm (sourced July - December 2010)
Renewable Energy Projections as Published in the National Renewable Energy Action Plans of the European Member States, http://www.ecn.nl/nreap (sourced December 2010)
Interactive EurObserv’ER Database
http://www.eurobserv-er.org
Last update: June 2011
This information can be referenced without permission provided that
thesource is mentioned completely and correctly: 'Interactive
EurObserv'ER
Database, http://www.eurobserv-er.org (date of last update)'
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