Van Oord acquires stake in Estonian offshore wind farm developer

Van Oord says it has become a shareholder in Saare Wind Energy, which is developing the Saaremaa offshore wind farm in Estonia.

Development of the Saaremaa offshore wind farm began in 2015. The company is developing an area of up to 200 sq km (77.2 square miles) south-west of the Estonian Island Saaremaa. The area could facilitate an offshore wind farm of more than 1,000 MW.

In May 2020, the Estonian government decided that Saare Wind Energy could proceed with the location permit procedure and the associated environmental impact assessment.

In January 2020, the two companies agreed to cooperate on the project.

On the 30^th September 2020, the energy ministers of Poland, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, Germany and Sweden, along with representatives of European Commission signed the ‘Baltic declaration for offshore wind energy.’

This is a joint declaration on the development of offshore wind power and an efficient electricity infrastructure to facilitate the transmission of renewable energy to the Baltic Sea countries. The declaration is intended to bring about cooperation in the development of offshore wind power on the Baltic Sea.

Hybrid projects, offshore wind farms in combination with interconnectors to neighbouring countries, will become major footholds for the development of this offshore electricity infrastructure, according to Van Oord.

This marks a change in offshore wind from separate offshore wind farms toward meshed offshore networks and energy hubs.

The company said the Saaremaa offshore wind farm location offers an opportunity for such a hybrid project. The combination of good wind resources, an offshore wind location in line with the Marine Spatial Plan, and the opportunity to develop interconnectors across the Baltic Sea to Sweden and Latvia give Estonia the opportunity to take first steps in implementing the vision of the Baltic Sea declaration.

Source: Offshore Magazine