Estonia Unveils Process to Sanction First Offshore Wind Farms

Estonia's government has announced that it has started a process to issue building permits and other steps needed to construct the country's first offshore wind farms in the Baltic Sea, with planned total capacity around 1,380 megawatts (MW).

Prime Minister Juri Ratas stated that the country had passed a "milestone" by launching the process. Estonia now generates most of its electricity from burning oil-shale.

The government is working on building permits and has also launched an environmental assessment. The prime minister did not say when a final decision would be taken for work to start.

Estonia has signed up to the European Union's plan to become climate neutral by 2050.

The largest of the three planned wind farms is in works by state-owned utility Eesti Energia, which plans to build up to 160 turbines, with capacity of up to 1,000 MW.

"Production of such offshore wind farm would cover almost half of Estonia's energy needs and it is an important step to reach climate neutrality by 2050," Eesti Energia said, adding it aimed to open the farm before 2030.