On Tuesday, 11th of June, Nelja Energia opened the Ciuteliai wind farm in Lithuania. It is Lithuania’s largest wind farm with a total capacity of 39.1 MW.
Martin Kruus, the Chairman of the Board of Nelja Energia said the company invested approximately 57.4 million Euros in developing the new wind farm. The estimated annual production of the wind farm, which consists of 17 turbines, is 108 GWh. This is enough to power 27,000 households with electricity. “ The recently completed wind park will make a significant contribution to the Lithuanian renewable energy development,” explained Kruus .
“We are currently planning onshore wind farms in Latvia and Lithuania, there are about 170 MW wind energy under development in these countries. In Estonia the volatile energy policy in recent years has made new investments into onshore wind farms extremely difficult,” Kruus added.
The Ciuteliai wind farm is located 15km North from Šilutė and 19km East from the Baltic Sea coast. The wind farm comprises an area of 800 hectares. The farm has 17 turbines, each with a capacity of 2.3 MW. The height of the mast of the wind turbine is 108 m, and rotor diameter is 82 m.
The wind farm developer Nelja Energia is based on the Nordic and Estonian capital and it is the largest wind energy producer in the Baltic States. Nelja Energia has wind farms with the total capacity of 223 MW, of which 79 MW are located in Lithuania. This makes Nelja Energia one of the largest Estonian investors in Lithuania.
In 2012 35% of Nelja Energia’s wind energy production came from Lithuanian wind farms. This year the number is estimated to grow to 42% of the company’s electricity production.
In Estonia the main focus is offshore wind energy by developing the Hiiumaa offshore wind park.
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Press release, June 17, 2013; Image: 4Energia