Minister: Estonia to join shapers of global energy policy

Photo: Elmo Riig / Sakala

Speaking at the presentation of an in-depth analysis of the Estonian energy sector and energy policy compiled by the International Energy Agency (IEA) in Tallinn on Friday, Minister of Economy and Communications Juhan Parts said that the upcoming accession of Estonia to IEA is an important milestone in becoming an active participant in shaping global energy policy.

Parts said he was pleased to hear IEA's positive assessment of Estonia's readiness to cope with a crisis in the supply of liquid transport fuels, the ministry said in a press release. He said Estonia has set up fuel stocks as required and management of the fuel stocks is taking place rather effectively here compared with other similar countries.

The present moment is important from the viewpoint of shaping the future of Estonia's energy policy, as the country is preparing a new energy development plan for the period until 2030 and with an outlook until 2050, the ministry said. The new development plan looks at energy security, security of supply, environmental protection and economic feasibility. The key issues that one has to pay attention to in the future are ensuring sustainable production of energy, reducing the carbon intensiveness of energy production and setting more precise guidelines for the mining and production of oil shale, Parts said.

The country definitely needs to deal with additional developing of the markets for electricity and natural gas, making remote heating more effective and expanding the production of renewable energy, said Parts. He said that also in this work availability of reliable starting data was crucial and cooperation with the IEA was seen to give the necessary quality boost.

Parts described building up a diverse energy production and consumption portfolio as important for Estonia, in which energy production based on oil shale, the traditional domestic energy resource, biofuels and renewable energy, as well as natural gas and other imported fuels would be represented alike.

Estonia started membership talks with the IEA in fall 2011 and expects to become a member of the organization by the end of this year. The IEA is an independent agency under the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that is the global leader in fuel market analysis and regulation of the domain of emergency fuel stocks. Membership of OECD is a prerequisite for becoming a member of the IEA.