Enefit Green's Purtse wind farm again faces turbine downsizing in new court battle

Estonian renewables developer Enefit Green AS (TAL:EGR1T) faces another legal hurdle in its bid to build the 21-MW Purtse wind farm in Estonia, with a fresh court challenge seeking to cap turbine capacity at 3 MW and reduce the project's planned output.

The Tartu Administrative Court accepted a complaint from Eesti Uhistuenergia OU, a third-party company with a nearby wind farm, seeking to revoke the use permits issued to Enefit Green's subsidiary, Enefit Wind Purtse AS, for the five 4.2-MW turbines it had planned.

While the complaint was filed against Luganuse municipality, it ultimately targets Enefit Wind Purtse in a bid to force it to use five units of 3-MW turbines for the under-construction project.

The Tartu court granted Eesti Uhistuenergia interim relief, temporarily limiting the Purtse turbines to 3 MW each. Eesti Uhistuenergia claims that the Purtse wind farm creates wake effects for its own turbines at the neighbouring wind farm, harming its interests.

In a press release on Friday, Enefit Green maintained that the use permits were lawfully issued in line with the construction permit, which allows the Purtse project reach the planned capacity with five 4.2-MW wind turbines.

This echoes a similar challenge from September 2022, where the Viru County Court halted construction by granting Eesti Uhistuenergia’s application for interim relief, prohibiting the installation of turbines more powerful than 3 MW.

That interim relief was revoked in November, allowing Enefit Wind Purtse to continue with construction in accordance with the construction permit.

Enefit Green said that it intends to challenge the latest interim relief order.

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