For this project Pondera conducted a prefeasibility study on the pre-selected areas of the Baltic Sea Wind Farm (ELWIND). The main purpose of this study was to assess the pre-selected areas and point out the best location for a wind farm in the combined Estonian Latvian maritime areas.  

Project objectives

• Promote offshore wind energy
• Selecting the most suitable wind energy sites
• Accelerating energy transition 

Wind potential Baltic States

The Baltic States have exceptional potential for offshore wind energy, with an estimated capacity of 26 GW in EEZ zones and ideal shallow waters. The Baltic States have considerable ambition in terms of realising (offshore) wind energy. This ambition is further fuelled by the current situation in Ukraine. The sense of urgency to become independent of oil, gas and electricity from Russia is felt everywhere.

The main purpose of this study was to assess the pre-selected areas and point out the best location for a wind farm in the combined Estonian Latvian maritime areas. We assessed several preselected offshore wind park development sites (4 sites, each ca 200 km2) in the Baltic Sea within the Estonian and Latvian territorial waters and their exclusive economic zones. In this study we assessed for example the ice conditions, water depth, soil conditions, electricity production, ecology and assessed the technical feasibility of several foundation options.