(ERR/Estonian Public Broadcasting/BNS) The economic affairs committee of the parliament has decided to send to second reading a bill seeking to make the obligation of adding a bio-component to petrol and diesel fuel more flexible, and to increase the transparency and efficiency of trading in bio-component and renewable energy statistics.
Chairman of the committee Sven Sester (Isamaa) said a number of amendments had been made to the bill ahead of a second reading at the proposal of the bill’s initiator and market participants.
An amendment proposal by the economic affairs committee was approved which will see a 10 percent biofuel content requirement on a six-month basis can now be fulfilled on an annual basis instead, Sester said.
“That will give the consumer an opportunity to buy fuel at a lower price since the supplier will have more freedom to decide based on price levels if they should fulfill their obligations now or later, and that will undoubtedly have a positive effect on the market,” he said.
Member of the economic affairs committee Kalvi Kõva (SDE) said that the bio-component obligation also provides an opportunity to make more use of domestically produced biomethane.
“It is actually already being used now, and it reduces dependence on liquid fuel imports. The biomethane produced and consumed in Estonia is estimated to account for close to 6 percent of all fuel used in transport by 2022,” Kõva said.
The bill seeking to amend the Liquid Fuel Act also aims to introduce an electronic database for statistics trading to provide a transparent way for suppliers to sell surplus statistical units of biofuel exceeding the minimum bio component requirement to supplies with shortage of said units.
The bill is to be put to second reading in the Riigikogu on March 12. READ MORE