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Estonia to spend Spanish emissions cash on wind energy

At its regular cabinet meeting, the government of Prime Minister Andrus Asip approved the sale of emissions credits known as Assigned Amount Units (AAUs) to Spain with a value of 688 million kroons (58 million dollars).

When completed the deals will mean the government will have sold AAUs to the value of one billion kroons in 2010, twice as much as planned in the annual budget.

The sale of the AAUs is taking place as part of a green investment scheme which requires the revenue raised to be reinvested in environmentally-friendly projects.

"Some 23 million euros of AAU sales revenue will be invested in wind energy. This investment will allow production capacity of around 25-30 MW of wind power to be generated in Estonia," a government statement said. "The investment will reduce the CO2 emissions from the production of electricity in Estonia by 1.5 million tonnes over the next 20 years."

As part of the investment scheme for the development of public transport, the state will spend 21 million euros on more than 100 economical new buses for public service from 2011.

A smaller sale of AAUs to Japanese bank Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation will be used to finance energy efficiency schemes in government buildings.

Earlier this year Estonia entered into two sale and purchase agreements with Austria for the transfer of 2.9 million AAUs.

Source: DPA