One of Estonia's renewable energy producers, Utilitas, begins this week with the construction of wind park in the northern municipality of Saarde in Pärnu County.

The nine wind turbines will be installed in the spring of 2023, and the wind farm is slated to be fully operational in the summer of 2023. 

"The intensifying energy crises and geopolitical instability are a strong indication that our region requires new electricity generation capacity immediately to guarantee the security, independence and affordability of energy supplies," Rene Tammist, a member of the board of Utilitas Wind said.

The preparatory work for the Saarde wind farm will involve the construction of roads and wind turbine foundations, the construction of the wind farm substation, as well as the installation of a cable network connecting the wind turbines to the substation.

The general contractor for the project is construction company OÜ Nordecon Betoon, which is collaborating with Verston OÜ and Connecto Eesti AS, along with a number of local subcontractors. In addition, the Estonian TSO Elering inked a contract with Connecto Eesti AS in early August for the construction of a new substation in the area and accompanying power line work.

Vestas, a producer of wind turbines, will supply nine V150 wind turbines with a capacity of 4.3 megawatt-hours.

"No new wind turbines have been installed in Estonia for eight years now. The technology of wind turbines has developed rapidly during this time and the Vestas V150 wind turbines we acquire are the most modern and efficient. Compared to ten years ago, much fewer wind turbines can now produce substantially more energy," explained Utilitas Group CEO Priit Koit.

The wind farm's overall capacity of 39 megawatt-hours is sufficient to cover the annual electricity needs of more than 40,000 homes.

Utilitas is investing more than €60 million in the wind farm.

Utilitas Group has several wind parks in the development phase in Estonia, both on land and at sea. In Latvia, Utilitas owns the Grobina wind park, which has a capacity of 20 megawatt-hours, and the Targale wind park, where 14 Vestas wind turbines were installed in June, with a total capacity of 59 megawatt-hours.

In 2021, Utilitas produced 1.7 terawatt-hours of heat and 330 gigawatt-hours of electricity; 66 percent of energy was produced from renewable sources.

The company's consolidated sales revenue in 2021 was €161 million and its assets were €486 million.

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