Biogas 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
Sec-tor 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 – Electricity and
heat : biogas
In
Estonia a system is in place where the grid operator is obliged to buy
the renewable power, and is also responsible for paying the fee
(feed-in tariff or subsidy) to the RES-operator. The system was revised
thoroughly in May 2007. In the new situation, the RES-E operator has
the choice to sell its power to the grid operator at a fixed price
(feed-in tariff of EEK 1.15 (ap-proximately EUR 0.073) per kWh) or to
apply for a subsidy (at an amount of EEK 0.84 (ap-proximately EUR
0.053) per kWh) and to sell its power separately to a client. The
schemes are constrained in time: they apply up to the year 2015. The
feed-in tariffs and the subsidy tariffs are both set by the Electricity
Market Act (EMA) and are to be approved by the Parliament of Estonia.
For cogeneration (not from RES), slightly lower subsidies are
available. The final con-sumers are charged and bear the costs of the
system.
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. Other in-vestment subsidy
schemes available to RES-E come from funds originating from other
Western European countries: Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.
No
tax incentives apply to RES-E. A system of green certificates is in
operation on a voluntary basis as of 2001, introduced by Estonian
Energy AS and the Estonian Fund for Nature. Also, environmental charges
are collected, regulated by the Environmental Charges Act (ECA). This
charge is applicable to production of electricity. Electricity from
hydropower, wind, biomass and the use of waste are exempted from this
tax.
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
Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications,
http://www.mkm.ee (sourced September 2008)
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: December 2010
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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