Estonian president: Each wind farm an important step in securing our future

TALLINN – President Alar Karis said at the opening of the Utilitas wind farm near Tihemetsa in the Saarde rural municipality on Friday that Estonia's ambition to produce more environmentally friendly electricity foremost means diversifying its production, in which wind farms play a significant part.

"By investing in environmentally friendly and smart technology, we also increase Estonia's attractiveness in the eyes of the investors from the rest of the world," Karis said.

According to the head of state, the fluctuating energy prices of recent years prove that investments in the energy system have stood still for too long. He added that one of the significant bottlenecks of the Estonian economy is energy.

"The struggles of recent years confirm that we need to make our energy system more diverse in order to better withstand crises in the future and reduce the risks associated with the price fluctuations of some individual energy carriers," Karis said. "Each wind farm is an important step in securing our future and competitiveness."

The head of state expressed his belief that Estonia's future economic model is based on smart entrepreneurship, but stressed that technological intensity often goes hand in hand with energy intensity.

"Competition for the location of such companies is global, and our chances are better if we can provide them with clean and safe electricity," the president said. "Electricity is also needed by the traditional economy, which must reduce its environmental footprint in order to maintain its export capacity, because our customers are becoming more and more demanding in this regard."

"We will be left behind if we do not develop. The economy will lose competitiveness, companies will lose markets and people will lose jobs. All this is happening in the industrial sector right now. Our success today is built on decades of decisions and work. The future will continue to depend on how courageous we are in making decisions," the head of state said.

The president expressed hope that Estonia's desire for development will not run out and that the plans in the field of energy, which have been on paper so far, will become real decisions and work.