“We’ll use the funds of REPowerEU to increase Estonia’s energy security and accelerate the green transition,” said Prime Minister Kaja Kallas.
According to Kallas, the government will use the largest part of the allocation – more than €50 million in total – to support the faster deployment of renewable energy.
“Estonia’s goal is to cover 100% of its electricity consumption from renewable sources by 2030,” said Kallas. “To achieve this, the state must first and foremost speed up administration and cooperation between government agencies, local authorities and businesses. We’re eliminating bottlenecks to get renewable energy projects processed as quickly as possible. We can accelerate all this with the REPower funds. This way, we’ll strengthen energy security and can switch to renewable energy sooner.”
About ten different acts need to be amended to implement the changes. Some of the amendments, which will help simplify projects that are already pending, can presumably be adopted by the current Riigikogu. The plan is to develop a comprehensive package of legislative changes by February 2023.
Minister of Finance Annley Akkermann said that the REPowerEU funding facility is intended for investments that are made within a very tight timeframe. “The necessary administrative processes that would support the accelerated deployment of renewable energy have already been launched and now the financial support is in place as well. The outcomes for which the REPower support is used must be achieved by May 2026 at the latest.”
The government approved the allocation of more than €90 million as follows: €31.8 million for a reform to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy, €20.2 million to increase the production and deployment of biogas, €18 million to further increase the capacity to integrate renewable energy into the grid and €20 million for energy efficiency grants for small houses.
The government’s decision is the basis for Estonia to start negotiations with the European Commission on the use of the support from the funding facility. A separate REPowerEU chapter will be prepared for the recovery plan that is the basis for the use of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) as a result of the agreements made in negotiations and the government is expected to officially approve it in early spring 2023. The total amount of the support allocated to Estonia within the scope of the REPowerEU facility is €90.04 million.
