Without revealing details of the project, EM acknowledged that by 2030 it is planned to develop a wind park project which could involve co-financing of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). As part of the project, it is planned to set up a high-capacity offshore wind park of at least 700-1000 megawatts.
“A joint operation of the offshore wind park in the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Riga could bring considerable economic benefits and contribute to the energy security of both countries by diversifying energy supply sources,” said EM.
Economy Minister Janis Vitenbergs (“KPV LV”) told LETA that the development of wind energy in the coming decade is very important for the Baltic States, and experience has shown that the development of large wind parks has not taken off yet, so more state-level involvement is needed.
"With our Estonian colleagues, we agree that we can achieve higher benefits with lower costs through a joint project. The Memorandum of Understanding marks the first steps towards identifying the project and carrying out a benefit-cost analysis. After that, it will be possible to decide on further implementation of the project,” Vitenbergs said.
On July 30, the Estonian Government approved the Memorandum of Understanding, according to information at EM's disposal. ERR News in Estonia reported on the decision. It is planned that Latvia may review and approve the memorandum in the Cabinet in the coming weeks.
As previously reported, the potential of Latvia developing wind energy has been on the table for a while, with former Economics Minister Ralfs Nemiro and President Egils Levits raising the matter for international debate in 2019.
