The Estonian subsidiary of Lithuanian energy group Ignitis is making preparations to potentially build a gas-fired power plant with a capacity of up to 200 MW in Kastre Municipality, Tartu County.
Ignitis Estonia CEO Timo Tatar said the company's interest in building a gas-fired power plant with a capacity of up to 200 megawatts in Kastre Municipality stems from TSO Elering's plans to procure power generation capacity across Estonia to restart the electricity system in the event of a blackout.
"Under the terms of Elering's procurement for distributed system restoration capacity, such a plant must, first and foremost, be ready to start up and operate independently whenever Elering needs it to restart the system. At other times, the plant can also participate in other electricity markets and generate additional revenue," Tatar said.
Kastre Mayor Priit Lomp said Uniküla is technically well-suited for a power plant of this kind.
"There is a main gas transmission pipeline nearby, as well as a 330-kilovolt electricity transmission network. There are three potential locations in southern Estonia, stretching from Jõgeva County to southeastern Estonia. One is in Jõgeva Municipality, another in Tartu Municipality and the third in Kastre Municipality. There are no other locations in southern Estonia where such a project would be technically feasible," Lomp said.
Tatar also said Uniküla's proximity to Elering's natural gas network and its strong electricity grid connections made it an attractive location.
"Of course, it is difficult to say whether the natural gas supplied to the power plant would arrive via LNG tankers or from somewhere like Norway," Tatar said.
The company has submitted an application to Kastre Municipality to initiate a detailed spatial plan. However, Tatar stressed that its interest in developing the project does not constitute a final investment decision.
"At this stage, we are simply making preparations so that, if Elering's procurement terms prove attractive to us, we will be ready to submit a bid. It should also be noted that our interest is not limited to Kastre Municipality. We are also looking at suitable plots of land elsewhere, although it is too early to discuss those locations," Tatar said.
Elering said that, under its current plans, the procurement is expected to be announced toward the end of this year.
Lomp added that the municipality has not yet begun processing the detailed spatial plan application as Ignitis is not the only company interested in building a gas-fired power plant in the area. He said the municipality had first forwarded Ignitis' application to the state for review.
"We have sent Ignitis' proposed location to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications so that it can review all national mineral resource plans and other planning documents to see whether there is anything that, from the ministry's perspective, would rule out the project. The municipality does not want to waste time on unnecessary work. Under our municipality's comprehensive plan, the site is designated as valuable agricultural land. However, the plan also states that projects of significant public interest can be considered for development there and we believe electricity generation capacity is a matter of significant public interest," Lomp said.
The cost of building a gas-fired power plant with a capacity of up to 200 megawatts is estimated at around €200 million.
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