Latvia and its Baltic neighbors rely on the Daugava River to push through the three HPPs at Pļaviņas, Ķegums and Rīga to provide electricity to the entire region, especially during the more water-rich spring and fall seasons. But the complicated equipment, structures and mechanisms put into place for producing this electric energy have always been a daunting phenomenon for the average consumer to grasp.
Now, for the first time in Latvia, educational materials in interactive electronic form about a critical sector of the national economy have been made public, Latvenergo press secretary Sandra Vējiņa told LSM. The virtual tour was launched this year to mark the 75th anniversary since the opening of the first HPP at Ķegums, she said. It gives consumers a chance to learn how the HPPs work from the inside out as well as see how the systems link together to form the “backbone” of the national and regional energy grid.
Latvenergo communications director Andris Siksnis said that the public utility company obviously cannot provide hands-on tours for security and safety reasons, therefore the virtual tour is a way to bring people closer, get them interested and help them understand where their electricity comes from and how it is generated.
“This virtual walk through the Daugava river basin demonstrates the modernity and high standards of our business and technical engineering solutions, because our power generation facilities are constantly maintained and renewed, and are therefore in line with high quality levels according to international standards,” Siksnis said.
English-language readers curious about the Daugava HPP cascades and related information about Latvia’s national electrical energy grid can visit the Latvenergo website and go on the tour to learn for themselves where and how we get our high-voltage juice here.
