Prospective developer Enery Estonia OÜ challenged the council's February 2025 decision to abandon the special planning process and strategic environmental assessment for the wind farm project, which the municipality had argued would significantly diminish its value as a living environment.

The first-tier court sided with Enery Estonia, annulling the municipal council's decision and ordering Kose Municipality to pay the company €26,082 in legal fees.

The dispute centered on the municipality ending the planning process at an early stage based on its arguments that few areas would be suitable for the construction of a new farm, and that the project could negatively impact the local green network and, together with the planned Ahisilla quarry, the local living environment.

Little lead time

The court found the company had received the municipal council's draft decision and justifications just three days before the relevant council meeting, and that allowing Enery Estonia to present its wind farm plans at the meeting was not a substitute for the opportunity to submit substantive objections to the termination of the planning process.

The municipality was likewise found to have relied heavily on a nationwide Environment Agency study mapping areas potentially suitable for wind energy development, despite the study itself emphasizing that additional studies and environmental impact assessments would be necessary to determine the suitability of specific sites.

At the time, the wind farm's potential location, size, impacts and possible mitigation measures were still unknown — factors the special planning and environmental impact assessment were intended to establish.

Lacking data

The court also rejected Kose Municipality's conclusion that the project would inevitably harm the area's green network or conflict with the local government's comprehensive plan, which does not prohibit wind farms.

It further noted the municipality had used inaccurate surface-area figures when assessing the possible cumulative impact of the proposed wind farm and Ahisilla quarry, and had failed to properly consider the wind farm's potential positive impacts.

The administrative court stressed that the precautionary principle does not justify terminating a planning process based on assumptions alone, adding that if there is insufficient information about a project's potential environmental impacts, the necessary studies must be conducted and possible mitigation measures identified first.

The court found that, in this case, the municipal council lacked sufficiently compelling grounds to rule out the future implementation of the wind farm plan.

The first-tier court's ruling is not yet final and may be appealed to the second-tier Tallinn Circuit Court by October 26.

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