Baltic, Energy

Prime Minister of Estonia Andrus Ansip.

Ansip stated at the Reform Party’s conference on economy that he wishes that a nuclear power plant be established in Estonia. “I think that Estonia should have its own nuclear power plant,” said the Prime Minister. Thus far he has rather supported Estonia getting stable nuclear energy supplies by participating in the project of the new Ignalina nuclear power plant planned to be established in Lithuania. Now Ansip admitted that focussing on the Ignalina plant has been a waste of time.

“We have lost a lot of time with the project of establishing Ignalina. It has been three and a half years,” admitted the Prime Minister. He stated that nuclear energy should be present in Estonia’s energy portfolio. “Estonia’s own nuclear power plant should certainly not be an issue on which debates should not take place.”

In his presentation the Prime Minister expressed his conviction that energy is a field of economy that will develop the fastest, despite the global financial and economic crisis. “One of the most certain areas where investments will flow into will be production of energy,” he explained.

Ansip said that Estonia would have enough oil shale for the near future for producing energy, but it is inefficient and will cause too much dependence. “Estonia has enough oil shale for another 30-40 years, but we are too dependent on it. Besides – it would be more profitable to produce oil from oil shale,” he noted.

In terms of security, Ansip stated that it is crucial to accede to the power networks of Western Europe. “Energy security means security for Estonia in a wider sense as well. In near future we will have to accede to the Central European energy network. Before they are constructed, we cannot think about guaranteed energy security in Estonia,” he concluded.