Enefit Green is building a hybrid renewable park producing electricity from wind and solar in Ida-Viru County, Luganuse parish, projected to be launched as early as next year.
This is the first time such a hybrid solution for large-scale alternative energy production has been created in Estonia.
According to Aavo Kärmas, Chairman of the Management Board of Enefit Green, laying the cornerstone for Purtse Park marks the beginning of a new era in Estonian renewable energy.
“Enefit Green will quadruple its renewable energy production in the coming years, and we are also preparing the next investment decision to build the Sopi wind farm in Estonia. With the support of new wind farms, in the coming years, the people of Estonia will receive much more environmentally friendly, affordable electricity, and the energy security of the state will improve,” Kärmas said.
According to Kärmas, Purtse makes good use of the fact that wind and solar energy complement each other.
“Purtse Park sets the direction for innovation in wind and solar energy. A hybrid solution for large-scale power generation using both production methods is being created in Estonia for the first time. This reduces the cost of building parks and makes much more efficient use of a limited network resource. For the consumer, the electricity price gain is achieved as each new renewable power plant helps to bring down the market price of electricity.”
Hando Sutter, CEO of Eesti Energia and Chairman of the Board of Enefit Green, confirmed that the energy group is committed to electrification based on renewable electricity to replace fossil fuels with carbon-free electricity.
“To transition to carbon-free electricity generation, we also involve our customers, who help to implement the green turn and buy in advance the electricity that the wind farm will produce under construction. From us, the customer gets green electricity and long-term confidence in the price of electricity, and we, as a developer of renewable energy, get confidence in the implementation of investments,” said Sutter.
According to Luganuse parish elder Marja-Liisa Veiser, the need for renewable energy and its share in total energy consumption is increasingly being discussed due to the lack of energy, the continuing increase in electricity prices and rising inflation.
“Power generation from wind and solar parks is greener and cheaper than the fossil fuel based power industry. At present, increasing the supply of own needs and energy independence, as well as reducing the impact on the environment, are equally important for Estonia. Ida-Virumaa has very favorable conditions for the production of wind energy and there are prerequisites for the construction of solar parks. We want to be part of the green turn and solve the energy crisis,” Veiser said.
Purtse Hybrid Renewable Park is located in Luganuse Rural Municipality between the villages of Vainu and Matka. Enefit Green will build five new wind turbines and a solar power plant there, consisting of about 49,000 panels.
The predicted annual production of the hybrid park will be 78 gigawatt hours in total, which covers the annual consumption of 24,000 average Estonian households. The capacity of the wind park is 21 megawatts, the solar park is 32 megawatts.
Enefit Green acquired the Purtse wind farm development project in March last year. In January of this year, the final investment decision was made, after which construction began. Purtse Park will go from an investment decision to electricity production in just 14 months.
The investment decision for the solar park was made by Enefit Green in May this year, and construction has axalso begun there.