Lüganuse faces a surge of development projects

Lüganuse Municipality in Ida-Viru County has become a focus for developers, prompting it to hire additional staff to handle planning applications, ERR reports.

VKGE and Kiviõli Keemiatööstus are expanding their oil shale mines in the municipality. The state wants to establish two defence industry parks there, while plans are also under way for a nuclear power plant and a VKG limestone products factory. A large part of the planned new Haljala-Kukruse section of the Tallinn-Narva highway would also fall within the municipality; its planning document is due to be made public on Monday.

Wind farm developers are also showing strong interest, said Lüganuse council chairman Mart Kivistik. The municipality is currently handling five detailed plans and four special plans, while one plan, submitted by Evecon Energia, has been approved. More than 160 proposed locations were initially put forward, but Kivistik expects the number to fall to around 100.

Varja Windfarm board member Gregor Raudvere said the municipality’s advantages include favourable wind conditions, available land and residents willing to host turbines. He also cited the Püssi substation, which he described as one of Estonia’s largest grid substations, and said local opposition was relatively limited.

The volume of work has led the municipality to create additional jobs, Kivistik said. He also said he would like experts assessing project impacts to explain their findings more fully and prepare more impartial presentations, rather than appearing to take the developers’ perspective.

Lüganuse Municipality was formed by the merger of Lüganuse, Sonda and Maidla municipalities and the towns of Püssi and Kiviõli. It has nearly 8,000 residents, most of whom live in Kiviõli.