Wind Power News: Estonia
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch to help keep readers informed about developments related to industrial wind energy. They are the products of the organizations or individuals noted and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of National Wind Watch.
Municipality refuses planning permission for Eurowind wind farm
The government of the rural municipality of Sauga in Parnu county in Estonia issued an order at the end of August 2017 to refuse planning permission for a wind farm that the company Eurowind OU wanted to build in its territory, Parnu Postimees/BNS/LETA report. The sought location, the moorland area of Nurme, had been put forward by the municipality and the negative decision mainly was a result of opposition from local peat extracting companies. Originally Eurowind had been planning to . . .
Close-knit Baltic neighbors take different tack on offshore wind power
Baltic neighbors Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia share a lot in common, including the Baltic Sea, but the differences in their development of offshore wind power are stark. Estonia, which has met the European Union’s 2020 renewable energy targets, is the least energy import-dependent country in the EU and will strengthen its energy security with between 1,300 MW and 1,700 MW to be added to the grid from two offshore wind projects by 2020. Currently there is 303 MW of installed . . .
Estonian defense forces’ radar needs may foil Eleon wind farm project
A plan of members of the Estonian Wind Energy Association to set up a wind farm and a plant for the manufacture of oversized wind turbines in northeastern Estonia may not materialize because the turbines will get in the way of the functioning of the radars of the Estonian defense forces, Eesti Paevaleht said. Maj. Mati Kuppar, air surveillance engineer and head of the technical group at the Estonian Air Force, said there were multiple problems related to the radars, . . .
Eesti Energia CEO: national wind energy capacity is now nearly maxed out
Chairman of the Eesti Energia management board Sandor Liive says wind farms in all but offshore locations have reached their full potential in Estonia and the renewable energy focus should now be placed on biomass. The 126 wind turbines now spinning in Paldiski, after yesterday’s opening ceremony for 18 of them, can produce enough to fill 6 percent of the entire country’s electricity consumption needs. By the end of the year, the figure should be at 8 percent – 300 . . .
Estonian national fish casts doubts over major wind energy park
The Tartu University marine institute has to conduct study to ascertain how the state-owned energy giant Eesti Energia’s planned Kihnu wind energy park, which will be located in the spawning area of Baltic herrings, would affect the behaviour of the fish, writes LETA/Eesti Päevaleht. If Baltic herrings start fearing the wind energy generators, it might mean and end to fishing in not just the vicinity of the Kihnu island but in the whole Pärnu Bay. Tartu University senior researcher Henn . . .
Planned wind park’s effects on herring to be studied
State-owned energy giant Eesti Energia has commissioned a study to see how a giant, offshore wind turbine park it hopes to build near Kihnu island might affect the area’s Baltic herring population. “Baltic herring, like all herring, is very sensitive, and we must study how the vibration from the turbines affects its behavior,” Henn Ojaveer, a senior research fellow at the University of Tartu’s Marine Institute, told Eesti Päevaleht today. The study, conducted by the Marine Institute, will cost 100,000 . . .
IRL politician seeking to establish size limits on wind turbines
Veteran IRL politico Tõnis Palts has drafted a motion to limit the height and power of wind turbines on the western islands, saying too many of the eyesores could threaten the tourist industry. Parts told uudised.err.ee on Thursday that tourism is practically the only sustainable industry on the islands of Muhu, Vormsi, Saaremaa and Hiiumaa, and tourists could keep away if the islands become full of large turbines. The bill, which would limit turbines to 30 meters and 20KW, was . . .
Entrepreneurs: the new law on electricity market of Estonia puts an end to the development of wind farms
Integration of wind power in Estonia (Tuuleenergia Uhendus) was an official protest against the new law on the electricity market. About this BakuToday Today, 24 October, the Association said, noting that the developer’s plans, the new law of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and communications of Estonia, the law will come into force in 2013. Association opposes the exclusion from the list of recipients of benefits on those renewable energy wind power parks, who has not yet built or are . . .
Wind farm exploration pilots seek birdless areas
A team of pilots is performing observation flights above the coast of Saaremaa and Ruhnu islands to determine where an offshore wind farm might be set up as part of the Estonia-Latvia cooperation program. “The goal is to map the locations of birds and seals and to take wind and ice readings to establish where the most favorable spot for offshore wind farms is,” said University of Life Sciences agriculture and environment institute researcher Leho Luigujõe in the island’s daily, . . .
