Estonia to initiate designated spatial plan for connections of Gulf of Riga offshore farm

TALLINN – The Estonian government is about to handle a draft decision Thursday to initiate a national designated spatial plan for the power grid connections of an offshore wind farm in the Gulf of Riga, as well as a draft to commission a strategic environmental impact assessment.

The spatial plan envisages connections from the Gulf of Riga offshore wind farm to the onshore grid in one or more locations. The area covered by the plan is more than 5,400 square kilometers, information made available by the government's communication office says.

From the substations of the offshore wind farm, submarine cables will run to the shore, and from there on as underground cables up to onshore substations. Further electricity connectivity to the substations of the transmission network will be made either in the form of underground cables or overhead lines, depending on which location of the routes is chosen and what the environmental impacts and economic feasibility will be.

The national designated spatial plan is to be initiated at the request of the state-owned energy group Eesti Energia, which will bear the costs of the preparation of the plan, including the costs related to the strategic environmental assessment. The estimated time for the preparation of the plan is six years.

The preparation of the national designated spatial plan and the strategic environmental impact assessment will be organized by the Ministry of Finance.