The construction works of Sopi-Tootsi, the most powerful renewable energy site in the Baltics, has reached the wind turbine installation stage
Enefit Green is building the most powerful wind and solar farm in the Baltic States in the municipality of Põhja-Pärnumaa. The farm will produce over 770 gigawatt-hours of renewable electricity per year. Currently, all land improvement systems, roads, and crane platforms, as well as almost all foundations for the wind turbines have been completed. The installation of solar panels at the solar farm will start in the coming weeks.
"Sopi-Tootsi is a very special site for various reasons, and there is no other like it. On the one hand, we are using the depleted Tootsi peat field, giving the current low-value land a new, useful purpose. On the other hand, we will double Estonia's current share of renewable energy, being able to provide green electricity to almost a tenth of Estonia's electricity consumers. Sopi-Tootsi wind and solar farm will help us to switch to environmentally friendly energy sources and consume affordable energy," said Janek Lillemägi, Senior Project Manager for wind energy at Enefit Green, explaining the importance of the farm.
The wind farm is being built by NOBE, Verston, and Connecto. To date, Verston has constructed and reconstructed 200 km of ditches and built 33.5 km of roads connecting the wind turbines, the solar farm, and the substation. NOBE has built 34 of the 38 wind turbine foundations, using 3,700 loads of concrete. The wind turbines are manufactured and installed by Nordex, one of the world's leading wind turbine manufacturers. Sopi-Tootsi is the largest and the most powerful wind farm in the Baltics, both in terms of the number of wind turbines and its capacity.
"Today, the construction works of Sopi-Tootsi wind and solar farm are ahead of schedule, mainly thanks to good cooperation with the authorities, the municipality of Põhja-Pärnumaa, and the builders. This will allow us to start installing the wind turbines two months ahead of the schedule. The parts of the wind turbines to be delivered by Nordex are expected to be transported by ship to the port of Paldiski in March. The giant cargo will then be transported to Sopi-Toots during the night, and the wind turbines will be installed in April," Janek Lillemägi explained. If everything goes as planned, the production of electricity in the new farm should start in the summer and the entire wind farm should be completed by the end of this year.
The foundations of the wind turbines at Sopi-Tootsi wind farm were built by NOBE. The road was built by Verston. Photos by Estfilm OÜ.
Additionally, Enefit Green is participating in the rewetting of exhausted peatlands in the Sopi-Tootsi solar farm area in cooperation with the Estonian State Forest Management Centre. "We will create a water regime in the solar farm area that will create the conditions for the restoration of the bog on a total area of about 100 hectares. As a result of the rewetting, carbon emissions from peat decomposition will be significantly reduced and conditions for increasing biodiversity will be improved," explained Johann-Gustav Lend, Project Manager of Enefit Green's Sopi-Tootsi solar farm. The project will also assess how solar farms can be used to restore old mining sites in the future. For the time being, Enefit Green has already built two solar parks on industrial sites in Ida-Virumaa.
In the Sopi-Tootsi solar farm, nearly 20% of the ground frames have been erected and the installation of solar panels will start in the coming weeks. In total, around 112,000 double-sided solar panels will be installed in the solar farm, connected to the grid through eight innovative SunGrow central inverters. Electricity production is planned to start at the solar farm at the end of 2024.
Sopi-Tootsi is Enefit Green's largest investment in renewable energy in recent times. In total, Enefit Green is investing nearly 350 million euro in the construction of the wind and solar farm.
Watch the video, to see how Sopi-Tootsi wind and solar farm is being built.