October 16, 2020
Estonia

Construction of Risti wind farm questioned by local municipality

Editor: Roberta Vaino | ERR | news.err.ee

On Thursday, the Lääne-Nigula council gave the rural municipality government a task to investigate whether the special plan of the 290-meter long wind farm planned by Enefit Green near Risti borough should be changed or suspended.

The plans will see a wind farm consisting of 17 to 30 wind turbines up to 290 meters high built in the area. The decision should be made by the council in December. The municipality has developed doubts that it is not possible to establish the wind farm due to national defense restrictions.

Mayor of Lääne-Nigula Mikk Lõhmus said that there is a danger that due to the connecting lines, the area of felled forest can be considerably larger than it was first thought.

The developer thinks that the special plan should be continued because the studies related to the plan would give clear answers to the locals questions.

Head of the board of Enefit Green Aavo Kärmas said: “For a year, investigating the various circumstances that may or may not prevent the emergence of this wind farm, have been prepared for. Today, the plan has been composed and currently, we don’t have knowledge of any obstacles as to ending the project today.”

Lõhmus said the issue is that when the plan was initiated, the municipality had certain starting conditions.

“In addition, the issues that have come to light today are changing the starting point. In fact, we cannot proceed with the same decision. Even the same transmission line questions. This is not such a small thing to look into in the second or third phase, this is a very large-scale felling issue” Lõhmus noted.

Enefit Green is one of the biggest energy production companies in the Baltic region.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2020/10/16/construction-of-risti-wind-farm-questioned-by-local-municipality/