Latvenergo and Latvian State Forests plan joint wind parks

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Latvenergo and Latvian State Forests are planning a joint investment in developing wind parks in Latvia. The planned investment will be one of the largest in Latvia's history and will reach one billion euros, according to Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš, LETA reported on August 8.

The Prime Minister said that also before February 24 when the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, it was intended to ensure the country's energy independence, so that electricity would be at a reasonable price.

Kariņš said that local renewables must be used for this purpose, and one of them is wind energy. Following the implementation of this project, Latvia could go from an electricity importer to an electricity exporter. Currently, 40% of the electricity needed is produced by Latvia itself, while 60% is imported. If Russia was the main source of imports until now, the source must now be forgotten, the Prime Minister said.

“This is a medium-term solution that will allow the energy supply to become completely independent and there will be less use of fossil resources,” Kariņš said.

Economics Minister Ilze Indriksone (NA) said that the planned wind parks will reach 800 megawatts (MW) capacity, which means producing 2.4 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity per year, which is around 30% of electricity consumed in Latvia last year.

The Chairman of the Latvenergo Board Mārtiņš Čakste said that the creation of the joint venture is the most important event in Latvia's energy following the construction of Ķegums HES and Pļaviņas HES. Latvenergo board member Kaspars Cikmačs added that according to an SKDS study carried out in the spring, 77.2% of the population expressed support for the creation of such wind parks.

Cikmačs told Latvian Television on Monday morning that the wind parks are planned 'in the forests, out of sight'.

It is planned to set up 100 to 120 wind turbines with the total capacity of 800 MW. The joint venture will be responsible for the maintenance of the wind park. It is planned that the project would contribute 50 million euros annually to the State budget.

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