The Estonian government is set to invest altogether 74.5 million euros in new radars in the coming years to free up most of the country’s territory for the establishment of without height restrictions.
To offset the negative effects of and individual wind turbines, more radars are needed to cover an area of a specific size, spokespeople for the Ministry of Defense said.
By 2024, a compensation radar will be in place in Northeast Estonia, and starting from 2025, a second compensation radar will free up most of mainland Estonia for the construction of without height restrictions.
In November 2019, the government decided to invest 37 million euros in the Northeast Estonia air surveillance radar and radio systems in order to make parts of West-Viru and East-Viru counties exempt from national defense related height restrictions on , the spokespeople told BNS.
In April 2021, the government decided to invest an additional 37.5 million euros to scrap the height restrictions for most of mainland Estonia.
The ministry stressed that although funding for the procurement of the equipment and infrastructure comes from the budgets of other ministries, the Ministry of Defense will finance the operating costs of the radars from the defense budget — in the amount of roughly 48.5 million euros.
Height restrictions for radars will continue to apply around aerial surveillance radar positions within a radius of 15 kilometers, in maritime areas, on islands and peninsulas.
Despite the installation of compensation radars, the siting of wind turbines, including individual turbines, must continue to be coordinated with the Ministry of Defense, as wind turbines can have a negative impact on various defense systems.