Last Monday, the leaders of Estonia's three coalition parties — the Reform Party, Eesti 200 and the Social Democratic Party (SDE) — reached a deal to hold reverse auctions for 2 terawatt-hours (TWh) of production each for the construction of offshore and onshore wind farms.

"They made the wrong decisions," Helme said in an appearance on ETV's "Esimene stuudio" on Wednesday. "When the leaders of three Estonian parties — we're actually talking about two parties; Eesti 200 is nothing but an extra. But they're basically locking in €2.6 billion of Estonian taxpayers' money for a racket we call the green energy clique, and that's robbing the Estonian people in broad daylight. Not to mention that it's driving the entire Estonian economy into poverty."

In the fall of 2022, the Riigikogu passed a decision in expedited procedure that Estonia must transition to covering its energy demands in full with renewable energy capacities by the year 2030, he recalled.

"Which means that, considering how efficient solar and wind are, in the next five years we actually need to build four to five times the nominal capacity we consume," the opposition party chair said. "Because wind turbines and solar panels operate at about 20-25 percent of their actual capacity. This is insanely expensive. It means the entire country will be filled with wind turbines and solar parks."

On top of it all, he continued, since everyone knows that wind and solar energy are expensive and won't actually supply us, additional gas plants will be built as a transition measure.

"These are also very expensive, and the electricity they produce is very expensive," he said. "These gas plants will have to be shut down by 2040. Meaning, we're building plants for just 15 years, with capital costs that will have to be quickly written off. If someone comes to spin us a fairy tale that wind power is cheap electricity, then they should be tarred and feathered, because that is an outrageous lie."

Then there is also the plan to eventually build a nuclear power plant too, he noted.

"The reality is that no matter what [Kristen] Michal, [Yoko] Alender or [Jevgeni] Ossinovski say, oil shale power plants will still have to remain operational for some time," Helme said. "And if we lived in the real world, not the fantasyland the coalition lives in, then nothing but oil shale power plants would even be necessary. It's served us for 100 years — served us well, and provided cheap electricity."

Helme: Developing wind farms will cost €15 billion

Wind farms' total cost to society is insane, Helme said.

"We're talking about €2.6 billion based on just this one decision, but actual wind development will cost at least €15 billion — this has been acknowledged by government officials and experts in the field," he highlighted, adding that it's at least €15 billion over the next decade.

"That means our tax burden will have to continue rising significantly," the EKRE chair said. "And that means that Estonia, from a production standpoint, will be a country where nothing can be produced. In other words, we're doomed to complete economic poverty as well."

Another reason EKRE opposes wind energy is because it involves building so many wind farms. "We're talking about dozens and dozens of wind farms in nearly every local government," Helme noted.

According to him, more and more information is emerging about wind turbines being harmful to your health. "Low-frequency sound, or infrasound, causes insomnia, nausea and dizziness in people," he claimed.

"Esimene stuudio" host Andres Kuusk interrupted him, pointing out that this has not been scientifically proven.

"No, it has been scientifically proven," Helme argued. "If someone says it hasn't been scientifically proven, then they just don't know. And there are plenty of scientific studies, both on wind farms and on industries where infrasound is present."

Kuusk nevertheless cited Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech) professor Jüri Lavrentjev, who has stated that infrasound is often attributed mystical properties, despite it behaving according to the same laws of physics as higher-frequency sounds.

"We can cherry-pick all kinds of quotes," the EKRE chair responded. "I can point to the University of Tartu (TÜ) website, which also has info about infrasound and states that at certain frequencies, it is harmful to human health. There are studies. It absolutely cannot be said that no studies exist."

In response to the claim that wind turbine hysteria is based on tired conspiracy theories, Helme asked where the people are who trust in science.

"What's the point in arguing with people who refuse to listen to arguments and simply say that everything they don't want to hear is a conspiracy theory?" he asked. "People like that should actually be laughed out of the room. And I'm talking about ministers and ministry officials, even paid-off scientists who come forward with such statements."

According to the EKRE chair, both people living near the Tootsi wind farm and studies from Germany and Denmark have highlighted health issues.

"To turn a blind eye to this and say that we're going to steamroll over local people and local governments because we need to rush this €2.6 billion into the pockets of our cronies — because the EU state aid permit expires in April and the money has to be locked in before then — is not normal," he stressed.

Helme also stated that wind and solar energy aren't environmentally friendly either.

"They have an extremely large environmental footprint," he said. "We're talking about structures the size of Tallinn's TV Tower being built by the hundreds, maybe thousands."

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