VILNIUS -- Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip used his address to the Vilnius energy conference 2007 to reassert Estonia's commitment to the use of oil shale as a means of producing its own electricity.
"Estonia's main energy source is oil shale. We produce enough energy
from oil shale to meet our own needs. And we are even able to supply
our neighbours with electricity. Thanks to oil shale our over-all
energy dependency is one of the smallest in the European Union. Indeed,
we are not highly dependent on Russian energy as commonly believed," Ansip said.
However, oil shale is problematic in that it creates large amounts of carbon as a byproduct of the electricity generation process. The EU is attempting to impose large-scale restictions on Estonia's carbon emissions which would make the continued use of oil shale as the major energy source impossible.
"We realize that if we want to sustain our relative energy independence,
we face some important strategic decisions in the coming years. Do we
invest into continued electricity production from oil shale? Or should
we seek alternative sources of energy? I believe that we should opt for
a balanced approach. In other words - continue to make efficient use of
oil shale. But also look for more diversification in our energy mix," Ansip said.
"We should adopt a similar approach on the regional level too. While we
clearly cannot completely abandon all existing sources of energy, we
should work intensively on finding new, additional solutions to our
energy needs."
