Estonian Offshore Wind Project Moves Forward

January 6, 2023, by Adnan Memija

The Consumer Protection and Technical Supervision Agency (CPTRA) has approved the environmental impact assessment (EIA) programme of the Saare-Liivi offshore wind farm in Estonia.

Usually, the environmental studies begin after the programme is approved, but in this case, the surveys started already during the compilation of the programme and therefore the first year’s studies have been carried out and the initial results are known, Utilitas Wind said, the developer of the project.

The EIA programme of the Saare-Liivi offshore wind farm outlines the expected significant impacts of the planned activities, the assessment of these impacts, and the studies necessary to be carried out.

As part of the EIA report, impacts on nature, cultural heritage, social and economic environment, shipping, and air traffic are assessed and visualizations were carried out, according to the developer.

“We started all the environmental studies outlined in the decision to initiate the superficies license immediately, so we were already able to provide both the public and decision-makers with more precise information regarding the scope of the studies. In addition, we saved at least a year in the project development time”, said Kristiina Nauts, head of planning and environmental impact assessment at Utilitas Wind.

The programme is compiled by the environmental consulting company Roheplaan OÜ in cooperation with Hendrikson&Ko.

Utilitas Wind submitted a building permit application for the Saare-Liivi offshore wind farm in 2021.

The company aims to obtain the necessary permits for construction in 2025 and to have the wind farm producing electricity by 2028, at the latest.

In the first phase of the development, Utilitas plans to install around 80 wind turbines with a total capacity of 1,200 MW and an expected annual electricity production of more than 5 TWh, in accordance with the technical conditions issued by the transmission system operator.