Estonia has recently implemented national measures to facilitate the energy transition on the Estonian islands. However, several major challenges remain. Based on an inventory of the current legislation, the Clean energy for EU islands secretariat carried out surveys and interviews to identify the barriers to clean energy deployment and the solutions to overcome those. These findings were discussed with all relevant stakeholders in two focus group meetings and a national stakeholder meeting (NSM). The results of that process are described in this booklet.
The barriers identified in Estonia relate to grid constraints and absence of frameworks for solutions to cope with it, islands not being consulted in a systematic manner and lack of national vision/strategy on clean energy development for the islands. There is limited support from the national government in planning and implementation of clean energy projects and action plans. Local opposition, lack of energy community frameworks to foster RES-projects, and spatial planning constraints also form barriers. These barriers can be overcome through stakeholder discussions, European-wide islands-to-islands exchange of best practices and leadership by the relevant authorities.