On 7 June Ambassador Sorin Ducaru, Assistant Secretary General, Emerging Security Challenges, NATO, gave a keynote speech at ICDS. Ambassador Ducaru outlined NATO’s response to emerging threats in the context of upcoming NATO Summit in Warsaw, focusing on energy security, non-prolifiration, CBRN, counter-terrorism and cyber defence.
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Critical energy infrastructure is an attractive and vulnerable target for cyber attacks. Supervisory control and data acquisition systems (SCADA) and smart grids are the main focus of attacks through the cyber space. The case of Estonia provides some suggestions to mitigate these threats.
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On April the 7th a group of students from the US National War College visited ICDS as a part of their field studies practicum in Estonia/Baltic Regional Studies. The subject of the meeting in the ICDS was Energy Security with concrete examples from the Baltic region as well as from Ukraine and Northern Europe overall.
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ICDS researchers took a close look at the Estonia’s energy security, current challenges it faces to meet the climate targets and possible outcomes of the climate policies implementation on security of energy supplies and sustainability. The report provides an overview and in depth analyses of possible measures for future implementation of Climate policy guidelines developed by the working group assembled by the Ministry of Environmental Affairs. Authors highlight the importance to count both costs and security effects and understand relative importance of certain areas to ensure balanced climate policy implementation.
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A shortage of funds forces Russian oil producers to reduce necessary investments.
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Tallinn, the far north of Europe, is home to the International Centre for Defence and Security, where Emmet Tuohy, a U.S. expert on Europe’s energy security, has worked since 2012. We met with Tuohy at a recent panel discussion on energy security which was part of Balkan SAYS, a youth seminar organised in Bled, Slovenia, by the Euro-Atlantic Council of Slovenia, to discuss both the importance of Europe-Russia cooperation on gas and energy (in)dependence of EU Member States, attempting to draw parallels between the Baltic states in the north and Balkan countries in the south. According to Tuohy, Turkish Stream could serve as an alternative to South Stream for the latter, although the Eastring project could be an even more effective solution, while LNG terminals are “a fantastic way of increasing security and diversity of supply in Europe”. In the following interview, Tuohy also compared the U.S. and EU energy transitions, saying that the electric car industry is likely to develop faster in the U.S.
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Consumers would benefit from energy cooperation between EU member states.
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Extensive use of oil shale is the unique and defining quality of the Estonian energy system. The oil shale sector accounts for 4% of Estonian GDP and places Estonia among the most energy independent countries of Europe. These benefits, however, come with an environmental cost. Over the coming decades, Estonia must continue to balance the domestic economic and security benefits of oil shale with its increasing international environmental obligations.
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At Russia’s initiative, the Nord Stream Two natural gas pipeline project has advanced from agreements of intent to a binding agreement; and Gazprom has formed the project consortium with several major European energy companies. Planned to connect Russia with Germany through the Baltic Sea by 2019, Nord Stream Two would double the Nord Stream system’s overall capacity to 110 billion cubic meters (bcm) of Russian gas per year, potentially replacing Ukraine as the main transit route for Russian gas to Europe.
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Russia, Germany and a consortium of Western European companies have re-activated the Gazprom-led Nord Stream Two gas pipeline project. Parallel to the existing Nord Stream One pipeline on the Baltic seabed, Nord Stream Two would double the system’s total capacity to 110 billion cubic meters (bcm) annually, all earmarked for direct delivery to Germany.
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