Van Oord buys stake in Estonian offshore wind project

Dutch marine contractor Van Oord on Tuesday said it has acquired a stake in Estonia-based Saare Wind Energy, the developer of the Saaremaa offshore wind project in the Baltic Sea.

The equity acquisition will help to step up the development of the offshore wind project, the capacity of which is expected to be over 1 GW, as the two companies combine their financial support and knowledge. The deal follows the signing in January of a joint development agreement for the project.

The Saaremaa offshore wind farm is planned to spread across up to 200 sq km (77 sq miles) south-west of the Estonian island Saaremaa.

In May, the Estonian government cleared Saare Wind Energy to seek location permit and start the environmental impact assessment for the project after previously refusing to initiate the procedure on the basis of national security threat concerns.

The location of the project is suitable for the development of a hybrid project, which can combine offshore wind energy with interconnectors to Sweden and Latvia, according to the companies. If the project is implemented in this way, Estonia will be the first country to act in line with the "Baltic declaration for offshore wind energy" it signed along with Poland, Denmark, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, Germany and Sweden last month. The declaration is designed to support the development of joint offshore wind projects together with infrastructure to bring renewable energy to the Baltic Sea countries.

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