当波罗的海国家因莫斯科入侵乌克兰而关闭俄罗斯电力并停止其他进口时，爱沙尼亚重新启动了其页岩油发电厂，并推迟了逐步淘汰严重污染燃料的努力。

这反映了整个欧盟的行动，各国政府逐渐摆脱对俄罗斯天然气的依赖，俄罗斯天然气一度满足了欧盟约40%的需求，并竞相寻找其他天然气供应商或替代燃料作为冬季的权宜之计。

爱沙尼亚国营能源集团 Eesti Energia 首席执行官汉多·萨特 (Hando Sutter) 表示：“这对爱沙尼亚来说是一张保险票，因为那里有油页岩。” “这只是为了更换缺失的电源，补偿高电价。”

他说，芬兰以及立陶宛、拉脱维亚和爱沙尼亚等波罗的海国家失去了约 2.5 吉瓦时的俄罗斯进口电力，需要更换以保持供电。

根据爱沙尼亚经济部和美国能源情报署发布的数据比较，页岩油发电一兆瓦时 (MWh) 排放约一吨二氧化碳，与煤炭大致相同。

“这只是为了更换缺失的电力供应并弥补高电价，”斯塔特在谈到重新转向页岩油时说道。“我们没有继续下去的动力，我们希望尽快停止它。”

波罗的海三个国家曾是俄罗斯电力的主要进口国，但其电价已大幅上涨，8 月份飙升至每兆瓦时 4,000 欧元（3,908 美元），这是证券交易所允许的上限。这三个州的通货膨胀率已达到20%左右。

监管机构称，2020年爱沙尼亚发电厂装机容量为3吉瓦，其中2吉瓦来自燃烧当地生产的页岩油的发电厂，这些发电厂正在逐步淘汰。

爱沙尼亚经济事务和通讯部 Jaanus Uiga 表示，爱沙尼亚仍计划到 2035 年逐步淘汰页岩油工厂，到 2040 年停止页岩油生产。

“这对环境不利，但在这种前所未有的情况下，我们确实需要使用一切解决方案来节省天然气并减少我们对进口俄罗斯化石燃料的依赖，”他说。

发电厂发电成本中约80%是环境税。Eesti Energia 表示，今年已雇佣 600 名员工，以提高页岩油产量并为发电厂配备人员。

（1 美元 = 1.0236 欧元）

When Baltic states switched off Russian power and halted other imports in response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, Estonia restarted its shale oil power plants and set back its efforts to phase out heavily polluting fuels.

It mirrors actions across the EU as governments wean themselves off Russian gas, which once supplied the bloc with about 40% of its needs, and race to find other gas suppliers or alternative fuels as a stopgap for winter.

“It is an insurance ticket for Estonia because the oil shale is there,” said Hando Sutter, CEO of Estonian state-run energy group Eesti Energia. “This is just to replace the missing power supplies and compensate for high power prices.”

He said Finland and the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia lost Russian power imports of about 2.5 gigawatt hours, which needed to be replaced to keep the lights on.

Generating a megawatt hour (MWh) of electricity from shale oil emits about a tonne of CO₂, roughly the same as coal, based on comparing figures issued by Estonia's economy ministry and the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

“This is just to replace the missing power supplies and compensate for high power prices,” Stutter said of the shift back to shale oil. “We are not motivated to continue, and we want to stop it as soon as it is possible.”

Electricity prices in the three Baltic nations, previously major importers of Russian power, have shot up, spiking to 4,000 euros ($3,908) per MWh in August, the upper limit allowed at the stock exchange. Inflation has hit about 20% in the three states.

Estonian power plants in 2020 had a capacity of 3 gigawatts, the regulator said, of which 2 gigawatts was from plants that burn locally produced shale oil and which are being phased out.

Estonia still aimed to phase out shale-oil plants by 2035 and end shale oil production by 2040, said Jaanus Uiga at Estonia's Economic Affairs and Communications Ministry.

“It’s not good for the environment, but in these unprecedented circumstances, we really need to use every solution to save to save gas and reduce our dependency from imported Russian fossil fuels,” he said.

About 80% of cost of power from the power plants are environmental taxes. Eesti Energia said it had hired 600 people this year to ramp up shale oil production and to staff the power plants.

($1 = 1.0236 euros)