Eesti Energia burns power plant plans

Photo: Peeter Langovits

Eesti Energia council, at its meeting today, will irrevocably forsake plans to build a second energy block in Auvere as, pursuant to new strategy, they will be focussing on something far more profitable: combined oil and electricity production from oil shale.

The Auvere power plant’s first 300 megawatt (MW) block, costing €640m, is planned to be launched next year. Eesti Energia had the right to order yet another energy block, equal in price and might. By now, however, the energy company has thoroughly altered its strategy and intends to turn its back to production of electricity from oil shale.

«The board has proposed to give up the second energy block and, other than Alstom (builder of the first block – edit) no one else is supportive of it, in Estonia today,» confirms the Eesti Energia CEO Sandor Liive.

In Mr Liive’s back pocket, there sits a plan much more ambitious. Worked out, this will ensure the company with the electricity capacity needed, plus huge amounts of profitable oil shale-derived oil. We’re talking about production of shale-derived oil, while the resulting pyrolysis gas and semicoke are used to produce electricity. Eesti Energia desires to increase shale-derived oil production ten times by 2025, to two million tonnes a year, which would also mean production capacity of 1,000 MW of electricity.

«Thus, we’ll get twice as much energy out of oil shale, as compared to just shovelling the oil shale into the oven,» explains Mr Liive.

On paper, it’s easy: in combined production of oil and electricity, oil shale’s efficiency is 75 per cent, an ordinary power plant yields 40 percent. That means more profit, les environmental pollution, and less dependency on greenhouse gas restrictions and global market prices.

«If the plan goes into action, we will be producing more electricity than is consumed in Estonia,» says Mr Liive. «As compared to current amounts, pollution will go down substantially.»

The prerequisite of the plan is that the new generation oil plant Enefit280 starts working properly. The launch of the plant, late for a year, has postponed all expansion plans. Should the first plant fail to work, the following eight oil plants will not be built either.

According to Mr Liive, the problems aren’t too big, the new technology just needing some time. The problems, said he, are not in oil production; rather, the troubles have occurred at separating-the-ash process.   

«I cannot say I don’t worry about the oil plant at all; even so, I do believe we’ll get it going this year,» says Mr Liive. «Inevitably, large-scale technological changes take their time to adjust.»

EE power plants

Eesti power plant (1969)    1,615 MW

Balti power plant (1959)    765 MW

Auvere power plant (2015)    300 MW

Iru power plant gas blocks (1978)    190 MW

Iru power plant waste block (2013)    17 MW

Virtsu wind farm (2002)    1.4 MW

Aulepa wind farm (2009)    48 MW

Narva wind farm (2012)    39.1 MW

Paldiski wind farm (2012)    22.5 MW

Linnamäe hydropower plant (2002)    1.2 MW

Keila-Joa hydropower plant (2005)    0.4 MW

Valka combined station (2012)    2.4 MW

Paide combined station (2014)    2 MW

Source: Eesti Energia