Enefit Green's Sopi-Tootsi wind park supplied its first electricity to the grid
Construction work at Enefit Green's Sopi-Tootsi wind park has reached a significant milestone with the first three turbines beginning to produce green electricity. So far, 28 out of the park's 38 turbines have been installed, with production starting gradually. The installation of the remaining turbines is progressing according to plan.
According to Janek Lillemägi, head of Enefit Green's wind energy construction team, the goal is to start electricity production at the new wind parks as soon as possible. "We started installing the turbines on April 15 and reached our first production on August 12, which was made possible thanks to good cooperation with all parties involved. We will continue with the installation and grid connection of the remaining turbines," commented Lillemägi.
Construction of the Sopi-Tootsi wind farm began at the start of 2023. The foundations were completed in February this year, and turbine installation began in April. The wind parks final completion is planned for the first half of 2025.
Once completed, the Sopi-Tootsi wind farm will have 38 Nordex turbines. Each turbine has a nominal capacity of 6.7 megawatts, with a blade diameter of 163 meters. The turbine's generator and gearbox are housed in a nacelle at a height of 159 meters.
The highest point of the turbine, the blade tip, reaches a height of 241.5 meters. The total capacity of the park is 255 megawatts.
A 74-megawatt solar park is also being built next to the wind park, with construction work starting in the summer of 2023. "The construction of the panel support frames is in the final stages, and about 112,000 panels are being installed. We aim to start electricity production in the solar park in the fall. The solar park should be fully completed by the end of next year," explained Rainer Tammus, head of Enefit Green's renewable energy project development and implementation.
Located in Northern Pärnu County, the Sopi-Tootsi renewable energy area is the most powerful in the Baltics. Every working day, a few hundred people are active on the Sopi-Tootsi construction site to ensure the work stays on schedule.
The combined forecasted production of the wind and solar park is 750 gigawatt-hours of environmentally friendly electricity, which will cover about one-tenth of Estonia's current electricity consumption.
Enefit Green has started electricity production in eight new parks over the past year and a half, five of which are fully completed and three nearing the end of construction. In addition to the Sopi-Tootsi wind and solar parks, active construction is underway at two large wind farms in Lithuania. At the Kelmė I wind farm (80 megawatts), all 14 turbines have been erected, and at the Kelmė II wind farm (87 megawatts), turbine foundations are being built. In Latvia, work is underway on the construction of Enefit Green's first solar parks.
Video overview of the Sopi-Tootsi wind park