TALLINN — The Estonian parliament overwhelmingly passed the Electricity Market Act Thursday morning after a protracted debate among the ruling coalition.

The final vote count was 72-0 with four abstentions, a harmonious end to a fractious argument between the Reform Party and Union of Pro Patria and Res Publica. The measure is part of the Baltic Open Energy Market initiative being done in conjunction with Latvia and Lithuania, and includes privatizing 35 percent of Estonia’s market, currently dominated by Eesti Energia and separating that company’s production and distribution wings. The act allows Nord Pool, the Scandinavian power exchange market, to begin trading in Estonia.

The act was initiated by Estonian government in Oct. 2009 but was stalled the Reform Party sought to divert funds from biomass energy  production and argued that operating a second oil shale plant would be overly costly at an estimated 24 billion krooni (€1.5 billion).

However, a compromise was made, allowing the second plant to be built but cutting the amount of funding for renewable energy.