Saaremaa residents oppose overhead power line to Latvia — ERR News
In Estonia, residents of Saaremaa Island and the Saaremaa municipality have opposed operator Elering's plans to build a 330 kV overhead power line across the island for the fourth energy connection between Estonia and Latvia. As ERR News reports, local residents prefer an underground cable or a submarine cable that would directly connect Saaremaa with Latvia.
Residents' objections
Elering initially considered several possible routes, but has now selected one option for the power line's route across Saaremaa. A resident of the village of Tõnija named Eve said that the line would cross her land plot and run 300–400 meters from her home. According to her, village residents collected signatures regarding the route, but their position was not properly taken into account.
Over the years of discussions on the route, 500 proposals were submitted, while €1.5 million has already been spent on the entire planning process. At a public discussion in Kuressaare, participants raised the question of why a large-scale overhead line must be routed through the island's nature.
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Elering's and the municipality's position
Priit Heinla, Elering's head of external connections development, explained that from an economic perspective, the most efficient option is to build most of the line as an overhead connection. He also noted that the company did not take offshore wind farms into account in the project for the fourth Estonian-Latvian connection.
Heinla estimated that laying a cable directly under the sea, with the construction of one or two auxiliary substations on Saaremaa, would be more expensive. The Saaremaa municipality had previously stated that it considers only an underground cable or an underwater connection from the island's southern coast to Latvia acceptable. The municipality plans to submit its position again as part of the planning procedure this month.
