Competitiveness of wood fuel in the conditions of open electricity market in Post-Kyoto period: Case study for Estonia

Abstract

The goal of the paper was to evaluate competitiveness of wood fuel in comparison with oil shale taking into account Estonian renewable energy support policy, open electricity market and greenhouse gas emission allowance trading mechanisms. During the research the potential for electricity capacity and electricity production where wood is used as fuel, was calculated. The electricity production costs were evaluated for two possibilities of producing electricity from wood: for wood-fired cogeneration plants and for oil shale plants with oil shale and wood co-firing process. The options of wood utilisation were compared with the reference case when the electricity is produced using only one type of fuel - the oil shale.