Estonia blocked an application for a 600-megawatt wind farm by Saare Wind Energy OU, claiming that it found security concerns. Specifically, the government stated that it has a suspicion that the wind farm may put safety of the society and national security at risk.
Saare Wind Energy OU was planning the project for four years, after having applied for a 50-year building permit for 100 six-megawatt turbines off the island of Saaremaa, Bloomberg reported. The project would have costed about 1.7 billion euros ($1.92 billion).
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Explaining why it rejected the project, the Estonian government said that it suspects that it the wind farm could threaten public order, safety of the society and national security.
Specifically, Justice Minister Urmas Reinsalu had cited an assessment by the security service in February, which said that that the project could raise security threats, because of the background of investors.
What is more, an Estonian security service spokesman had also said in February that the potential funding sources were not clear and could be related to Russia.
As for the company, Kuido Kartau, co-owner of Saare Wind Energy, noted that is likely they will go to court, regarding the refusal to handle the application. He added that there are not any agreement with Russia on the wind park project.
