Sakala Energia, a private limited company connected through its owners to the energy group Evecon, has submitted an application to the Viljandi municipal government to build a gas‑fired power plant with a nominal capacity of up to 200 megawatts (MW) within the municipality.

The company has proposed a location at Sõõrumaa with an electrical substation situated nearby. A gas pipeline passes close to the site, Viljandi municipality's chief planning specialist Kaido Koppel said on Thursday.

He emphasized, however, that no required planning procedure has yet been initiated. The municipality is awaiting clarification from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications on whether — due to ambiguities in the Planning Act — the planning responsibility lies with the state or the local government.

Koppel estimated that the planning process needed for constructing the plant would certainly take a couple of years.

Sakala Energia's representative Aivar Mäemets said that since the planning process has not yet begun, he does not consider it necessary to provide additional comments. "We will gladly return to the topic once there is something substantive to share," Mäemets said.

Sakala Energia is owned by OÜ MMA, whose owners are Marek Mägi and SilvInvest OÜ (owned by Aivar Mäemets).

Mäemets is one of the owners and leaders of Evecon, a Saaremaa‑based renewable‑energy group. Evecon operates multiple solar, gas and wind power plants as well as battery parks.

Most recently, on Tuesday, the company — together with French energy producer Corsica Sole and the international investment fund Mirova — opened the Hertz 2 battery storage park in Aruküla, Raasiku municipality. The facility, part of their joint venture Baltic Storage Platform, has a capacity of 100 megawatts and a storage volume of 200 megawatt‑hours.

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