Representatives of Estonian companies, looking for opportunities to develop offshore wind industry, paid a visit to Norway in order to learn about Norwegian industry and offshore potential. Estonia hopes to improve cooperation between offshore partners in the Baltic Sea region. The visit was announced by the Estonian Investment Agency (EIA).
EIA is a government agency that is part of Enterprise Estonia. It aims to promote foreign investments in Estonia and help international companies find business opportunities in the country.
A delegation of Estonian offshore wind developers, value chain entrepreneurs, representatives of the Ministry of Economy and Communications and the Estonian Investment Agency visited Norway from 9-11 November 2021. “The visit was organized in cooperation with NORWEP, the Norwegian Embassy in Estonia and the Estonian Embassy in Norway to learn about the Norwegian offshore industry and improve cooperation between Norwegian and Estonian counterparts”, the EIA website reads.
The Estonian delegation met with representatives from the Norwegian offshore industry such as DNV, Equinor, Aker Offshore Wind, Norwegian Energy Partners, Reach Subsea, Marine Energy Test Center (METCentre), Norwegian Offshore Wind Cluster, Eksfin – Export Finance Norway, Vårgrønn, Magnora Offshore Wind, Multiconsult, Subsea7, Tampnet, Deep Offshore Wind, Deep Ocean, KONGSTEIN, Windstaller Alliance, KARMSUND HAVN Karmsund Port Authority, Simon Møkster Shipping, Karmsund Group and Utsira Municipality.
Estonia prepares for the era of offshore wind
The Estonian government is looking for ways to improve the development of the offshore wind industry. Estonia will have a maritime spatial plan (MSP) available in early 2022. In addition, Estonia is considering a number of other strategic projects, such as reforms to the education system, infrastructure development and electricity grid, which will target the offshore industry in the coming years. New interconnectors with Sweden and Finland are in the pipeline.
The Baltic Sea can make a significant contribution to achieving the goals of the offshore wind strategy (300 GW by 2050) with a potential of over 90 GW, while 7 GW of this is planned in Estonian waters.
Estonia’s largest offshore wind developers are currently working on an environmental impact study to eliminate possible negative impacts on the marine environment and obtain licenses. Of the participating companies, Saare Wind Energy, Enefit Green and Sunly have specific development plans, with the first two projects having a combined capacity of 2.5 GW. In addition, the Latvian and Estonian governments have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish a joint offshore wind farm, a project to be operational by 2030.
