The recently skyrocketing electricity prices, energy supply threats, and the green revolution are all challenges Estonia is currently facing; our security and well-being depend on how we solve these issues. We are running against time to give up imported fuels, and fossil fuels in general, and to ensure the security of our country and the electricity supply on more favourable terms. Fortunately, solutions are within our reach in the form of offshore wind farms. A quick implementation is already possible with the help of a social agreement, but this requires goodwill and effective cooperation by all parties – the government, municipalities, communities, and companies.

Estonia’s ability to produce electricity in offshore wind farms ensures the environmentally friendly electricity supply needed for domestic consumption and enables the production of hydrogen in the amount needed to cover internal transport and industrial consumption. At the same time, by exporting electricity, we can improve our foreign trade balance.

Estonia has an exceptional geographical location to produce wind energy. There are shallow coastal waters and strong steady winds here, which means many suitable areas for wind energy development. The introduction of wind energy is a cost-effective way to produce renewable electricity and make the electricity system future-proof. With the help of wind turbines, we can create prosperity for Estonian society while also aiming to achieve the agreed climate neutrality goals. We can produce electricity for ourselves, sell it to other countries, and achieve energy security, i.e. not depending on expensive imported fossil fuels.

The energy roadmap recently published by Rohetiiger (www.rohetiiger.ee) analysed the role of offshore wind farms in Estonia’s energy future. Provided that the state and local governments cooperate effectively with developers and accelerate planning and licence procedures, the number of onshore wind turbines could be doubled in five years (in 2022, there are a total of 145 wind turbines in Estonia) and offshore wind farms could be built with a capacity of 2,700 MW. Such additional production capacity would enable Estonia to become a net exporter of electricity and help achieve carbon neutrality goals in the heating and transport sectors as well.

The capacity of the current offshore wind turbines is ~15 MW, which means the construction of around 180 wind turbines in Estonia; the power of onshore wind turbines is 5–6 MW, so about 150 additional wind turbines are needed. As the technology develops, the turbines are built with higher capacity, so the total number of wind turbines needed can decrease significantly.

To slow climate change, we must move towards a carbon-neutral economic model throughout the European Union. Therefore, the production of renewable energy should not be limited to covering domestic consumption only but, if possible, the export potential should also be used so that renewable energy is used across the region. Various analyses have shown the potential of Estonian offshore wind farms to be approximately 10 GW.

The European Union has set itself the goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2050 at the latest. The energy sector is responsible for the largest part of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Europe. Consequently, the EU directs its Member States to reduce their CO2 emissions. Due to the new geopolitical and energy market situation, we must significantly accelerate our transition to clean energy and increase energy efficiency, thus reducing Europe’s energy dependence on Russia.

In December 2019, the European Commission presented the European Green Deal, which aims to achieve a European society with a resource-efficient and competitive economy. The intermediate goal of the European climate regulation is to reduce net GHG emissions by at least 55% by 2030 compared to the level of 1990, which Estonia has also supported in its positions. In order to achieve this intermediate goal, the Commission adopted the Fit for 55 package in July 2021. As a counterweight to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the “REPowerEU” plan, published in May 2022, intends to make Europe independent from Russian fossil fuels well before 2030. In Estonia, the potential for meeting the goals of renewable energy is primarily seen in the development of wind energy, estimating the growth of wind energy production in the Estonian national energy and climate plan almost fourfold. However, this goal must grow even more in light of the changing climate and energy security policy.

The European Commission has proposed increasing the EU-level renewable energy target to 45% (instead of the current 32%). In Estonia’s national energy and climate plan, it is planned to reach a share of 42% of renewable energy in the total final energy consumption by 2030, which in turn will increase due to the need to significantly accelerate the transition to renewable energy.

The share of renewable energy in the final energy consumption continues to grow, so the need to introduce various storage technologies, such as pumped-storage hydroelectricity plants and hydrogen technologies to ensure the security of energy supply, is also growing. Hydrogen would be produced by electrolysis, from surplus renewable energy, so to speak, not consumed in the grid. Therefore, a prerequisite for the development of the hydrogen market is the availability of renewable electricity on a large scale. For this, it is necessary to develop offshore wind farms, to solve the problems of the energy network, and to strenghten the national electricity grid and connections between countries. In addition, it would be necessary to further efficiently develop the cogeneration of electricity and heat from biomass at the local level.

The actual number and placement of wind turbines will be determined during the superficies licence procedure, including the environmental impact assessment (hereinafter EIA) and depends on many conditions: construction geology of the seabed, visual impact, bird migration routes, fish spawning areas, flight and shipping corridors, etc. Therefore, it is currently not possible to say exactly how many wind turbines will be set up in the farm. Within the framework of the EIA, a wind farm with up to 160 wind turbines, with a distance between each other of approximately 1km to 1.25 km, is evaluated as the primary potential solution.

According to the technical conditions issued by the grid company, the first stage of development includes installing approximately 80 wind turbines with a total capacity of 1,200 MW, with an expected annual electricity production of over 5 TWh.

The most common manufacturers of offshore wind turbines in the world are currently SiemensGamesa, Vestas, and GE Renewable Energy. These are the only manufacturers of offshore wind turbines that meet the requirements established in Europe and are certified accordingly.

The output of the planned offshore wind turbies offered:

• Vestas V236-15.0 MW™, with a rotor diameter of 236 meters, a peak height of 270 m, and a power of 15 MW,
• SiemensGamesa SG 14-236 DD, with a rotor diameter of 236 meters, a peak height of 270 meters, and a power of 14 MW,
• GE Haliade-X 14 MW, with a rotor diameter of 220 meters, a peak height of 270 meters, and a power of 14 MW.

In recent years, wind turbine technology has developed rapidly and as a result we expect that more powerful and efficient wind turbines will be availabale on the market by the time the planned offshore wind farm will be built. The actual number, model, and placement of the wind turbines will be determined during the superficies licence procedure, including the EIA and the preparation of the work project.