Estonian energy company Evecon and asset manager Mirova have opened a 77MW solar park in Kirikmäe, Pärnu County.
The park covers nearly 110 hectares and more than doubles the capacity of any existing solar facility in Estonia. It is expected to meet the annual electricity needs of around 35,000 households.
The Kirikmäe solar park is owned by the Baltic Renewable Energy Platform (BREP), a joint venture formed by Evecon and Mirova in December 2022 to finance, construct, and operate a portfolio of over 100MW of solar parks in Estonia.
The park has 117,600 solar panels from Canadian Solar, each generating between 655 and 665 watts of power.
Evecon’s CEO, Karl Kull, called the project a “landmark event for the entire Baltic region due to the size of the production unit and the scale of the investment.”
He also noted that with the addition of the recently opened Imavere and Lohu mets solar parks, Evecon and Mirova have added over 100MW of capacity to Estonia’s grid in just one week, which accounts for roughly one-tenth of the country’s total solar capacity.
Evecon introduced a voluntary community benefit model to the municipality of Lääneranna, offering support despite the lack of a legal requirement for such contributions in solar projects, unlike wind energy projects.
Raphael Lance, head of energy transition funds at Mirova, said, “We are proud to bring our contribution to the Baltics’ decarbonisation and energy independence with this major asset and are grateful to Evecon for the quality of our partnership.”
