"It is currently in the interests of national defense and security to identify a 50 km wide area from the Russian and Belarusian borders where wind farm development is not allowed until the end of 2027, as wind farms potentially located here would pose a direct threat to national defense capabilities and their further strengthening," the Ministry of Defense said.
The map is divided into three color sectors. In the green zone, the construction of wind farms is allowed and supported and only requires the approval of the Ministry of Defence. In the yellow zone, wind farms are assessable, but the operator will have to take into account compensatory solutions, such as the purchase of new radars. In the red zone, on the other hand, wind farms cannot be built as they would significantly interfere with the national defense tasks.
Click to enlarge
It is planned to review the distribution of these areas at least every three years so that if a certain level of technological development is achieved. the areas in which wind farms can be built can be extended without compensatory measures being applied.
To extend the zones in which the construction of wind farms is permissible, the Ministry of Defence proposes to set up an inter-institutional working group, with the Ministry of Climate and Energy taking the lead in the coordination process.
The Ministry has received requests for the installment of more than 1,200 wind turbines for evaluation from wind farm developers over the past year.
“Even the deployment of a couple hundred turbines in the territory of Latvia, and in particular in the eastern border area, in certain areas of the west coast and central Latvia, would have a significant expected negative impact on the capabilities of the National Armed Forces' airspace surveillance and control, as well as early warning in case of military threat. The Ministry of Defense has made ambitious investments in the development of these capabilities in recent years,” the Ministry said.
The Ministry invites the public to participate in the consultation of the information report and the map attached thereto on the legal acts portal (TAP) by March 28 of this year.
