The reverse auction will support the output of onshore wind farms at a volume of one terawatt-hour per year, with the possibility of increasing this to two terawatt-hours. The generating facilities must be completed by the end of 2030.

Under a government decision made on January 22, the conditions of the fifth reverse auction also remain in force. That auction aims to bring 780 gigawatt-hours of renewable electricity to the market by July 1, 2027. The decision did not revoke the earlier terms either fully or partially.

Andres Sutt has been tasked with announcing the auction in the coming weeks.

"We currently import around one-third of the electricity we consume from our neighbors. To become energy independent and keep prices affordable, Estonia needs to quickly add new, future-proof generating capacity. Onshore wind farms play a very important role in this new and diversified production portfolio. The auction decided today sends a signal to developers for planning," Sutt said.

The government's communications office said in a press release that the addition of new onshore wind farms will also lower the average annual electricity exchange price.

The support measure for onshore wind farms — the reverse auction — has been planned for a long time. The measure was developed at the Ministry of Climate as early as last June and sent to the government, but the announcement of the auction was delayed after it failed to gain support from Eesti 200.

Kristina Kallas, leader of Eesti 200, told ERR only recently that it is questionable whether building new wind farms without storage solutions would lower electricity prices for consumers.

Earlier, Andres Sutt, minister of energy and environment, said that Reform's coalition partner Eesti 200 does not believe there is room for additional wind farms in Estonia and that he has been working to persuade the coalition partner. In his view, the auction could be announced in the first quarter of this year.

According to the coalition agreement between the Reform Party and Eesti 200, a reverse auction for onshore wind farms was to be announced in the third quarter of 2025.

At the beginning of last year, the government abandoned a support scheme for offshore wind farms.

According to the new national energy sector development plan, the state will phase out operating subsidies in the energy sector, with the planned reverse auction for onshore wind farms set to be the last major subsidy.

Opposition leader: Staying on path of incidental energy generation not the solution

"I do not believe such a consumer-subsidized electricity project is justified or reasonable at this time. Continuing with this kind of intermittent electricity-based energy system is not a solution that would serve our national energy security interests or the competitiveness of the economy. We also saw during the most recent energy shock period that renewable energy production actually decreased significantly from December to January — by 66 percent," said opposition Isamaa party leader Urmas Reinsalu.

Reinsalu also raised questions about the fact that the wider energy plan put forward by the governing coalition a year ago is now being implemented with certain modifications. Although the support measure for offshore wind farms was canceled, guaranteeing or even subsidizing those investments remains on the agenda.

The government plans to begin guaranteeing large energy projects and this measure is now being developed. Likewise, the government is supporting an application for a pumped hydro storage project in the Connecting Europe Facility funding round. According to Reinsalu, the government needs to explain what obligations this would entail.

"The public has the right to know what these guarantee measures being prepared actually mean — what obligations the state will take on and what their impact on the entire energy system will be. Another question arises with this (hydro) storage project: will the state guarantee it and under what conditions? We have to admit that the public does not know the answers to these questions and that is not normal," Reinsalu said.

He also said he opposes the so-called "wind incentive bonus," a financial payment to municipalities where wind farm planning moves forward more quickly.

"I think this is an irrational use of taxpayers' money. Municipalities make their decisions and I do not believe this would have much real effect on those decisions one way or another. Having the same taxpayers pay for it, in my opinion, is not justified in any way," he said.

Reinsalu added that instead of the decisions made by the government, a substantive energy plan should be drafted, centered on dispatchable capacity. The government should also present a substantive position on the reform of the emissions trading system currently taking place in the European Union.

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