A state of emergency could be declared in Narva due to the lack of natural gas

Estonia’s third largest city, Narva, could declare a state of emergency, because no applicant has applied for the natural gas procurement tender organized by the company “Enefit Power” and the city is threatened with a natural gas supply interruption.

Declaring a state of emergency would allow the municipality to ask the Environment Agency to allow the use of other energy sources.

The mayor of Narva, Katri Raika, confirmed on Thursday that the city’s crisis committee has examined the situation and recognized that there is a threat of an emergency situation.

“Enefit Power’s natural gas procurement failed yesterday because there was no offer, so now we don’t have gas for the winter, and we will declare a state of emergency,” Raika told the Estonian public broadcaster ERR on Thursday evening.

She expressed her hope that declaring an emergency situation would allow “Enefit Power” to receive permission from the Environmental Administration to use oil shale, which is a cheaper resource and more stably available, for Narva’s heat supply.

The head of the Narva municipality pointed out that it should also be taken into account that the increase in heating costs can cause significant social problems in the city, as the average monthly salary in Narva is 1,050 euros compared to 1,700 euros in Tallinn, and a quarter of the city’s residents are pensioners.

Although Narva currently has one of the cheapest heating in Estonia, several months ago “Enefit Power” announced a price increase of 78%, which would be a big financial blow for many townspeople.

The chairman of the board of “Enefit Power”, Andres Vainola, told ERR that the company needs to save natural gas for the winter season and use oil shale more for heat production, which requires a new permit from the Environmental Administration.

As he explained, usually the Environmental Board can review such a permit in a process lasting up to six months, but this time it should proceed faster.

The manager of “Enefit Power” emphasized that “all signs show that we will have a gas shortage this year”.

Vainola stated that the application for a new environmental permit will be submitted as soon as the state of emergency is declared in Narva.

The currently valid permit stipulates that “Enefit Power” oil shale may be used as a fuel reserve for up to ten days a year.

The head of the heat supply company said that even in the worst cold, the company can produce enough energy using only oil shale. However, it is necessary to prepare now and build shale reserves.

The cost of oil shale is half as much as the price of natural gas, Vainola informed, at the same time emphasizing that people living in Narva do not need to worry about being without heating in the winter, as the primary fuel and reserve capacities are sufficient to ensure heat supply.

The chairman of the board of the Estonian energy company “Eesti Energia”, Hando Suters, told ERR on Tuesday that a national emergency should be declared as soon as possible in connection with the natural gas supply situation in the country. This would allow heat supply companies and industrial customers to start applying for temporary and emergency changes to their integrated environmental permits in order to use other – more polluting – energy sources.

The Environmental Administration has announced that large regional heat supply companies could use shale fuel only if there was no natural gas in the country at all, but the high prices of this resource are not a sufficient reason for the increase in air pollution.

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