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Today, the Foresight Centre presented the report ‘Active Consumers in the Future Energy System’, which reveals that electricity management potential reaches 400MW in Estonia, exceeding the capacity of the Auvere power plant. The realisation of this potential is based on the assumption that electric cars and heat pumps become more widespread.

People in Estonia have begun to consciously manage their electricity consumption during periods of high prices. This has helped reduce costs and better balance energy supply and demand. However, the potential for managing electricity consumption in Estonia is double that which is currently being seen, and its full implementation would require the amendment of legislation.

In Estonia, culture and sports are mostly reliant on public funds, while in the Nordic countries, for example, these sectors see significantly more private investment from companies and private individuals. In a recent short report, the Foresight Centre highlights how these sectors could receive over ten million euros more annually if Estonian companies raised their financial donations from the current 0.5% to 3%.

According to various assessments, the green transition will require funding equivalent to 2-4% of the national GDP annually for this and the next decade. In its yearbook published at the beginning of April, the Foresight Centre emphasises that the transition to an environmentally sustainable economic model will incur high costs for consumers and require supporting measures for successful implementation. However, the transition is predicted to bring benefits to the economy in the long term.

There are nearly 10,000 households in Estonia that both consume electricity from the distribution grid and produce electricity for the distribution grid. The calculations of the Foresight Centre indicate that on 130 days a year on average, the amount of energy supplied to the grid by households is greater than the amount of energy taken from the grid. In the case of prosumers who are legal entities, the amount of energy supplied to the distribution grid is greater than the amount consumed 96 days a year.

On behalf of the Foresight Centre, economists from the University of Tartu analysed the bottlenecks of Estonian economic policy and made proposals to increase the competitiveness of the economy.