Estonia may purchase electricity from BelNPP

Estonia currently does not buy Belarusian electricity directly. However, it does not rule out the possibility of doing it, if energy from the Belarusian nuclear power plant reaches the Baltic market through other countries, TUT.by quotes Vice Chancellor for Energy of the Ministry of Economy and Communications Timo Tatar as saying. According to the Estonian official, electricity from third countries can get to the Baltic market through Latvia or Lithuania. "Given the structure of the market, it is impossible to say at which particular power plant it would originate. Since the Belarusian NPP is located in a system closely related to the Baltic States, it is likely that this market will also get electricity produced at it," said Tatar.

The official added that Lithuania which actively protests against the BelNPP did not officially ask Estonia to boycott this electricity, but at the level of officials there were talks on this subject. Mr Tatar stressed that such decisions are within the competence of the European Commission. If the EC comes up with an initiative regarding the BelNPP, Estonia would be ready to support it.

When BelNPP is launched, the law on prevention of electricity trade with Belarus should come into force in Lithuania. "Then Latvia will open the border for trade. If this happens, we want to set a fee to cover the costs arising from the use of this network. As far as we know, the Latvian government is ready to introduce such a fee," said Mr Tatar.

A few days ago, it became known that the Latvian government decided to buy electricity from BelNPP. However, on August 15, Prime Minister of Latvia said that it was a misunderstanding and the government had not made a decision to purchase electricity from Belarus.