Stakeholder Desks

Latvia

At the moment (2017) only 0.15 TWh electricity is produced by on-shore wind energy in Latvia. The on-shore wind energy contributed in 2017 only ~0.28% to the total primary energy balance and around 2% to the electricity supply. With the exception of a few coastal communities, Latvia can be considered almost entirely as a WESR.

The total on-shore wind energy capacity in 2017 was only 77 MW, around 83% of which was receiving support within the feed-in tariff system.  Only around 10% of Latvia's 119 municipalities have some form of wind energy installation. The majority of Latvia's wind energy capacities is situated in only two municipalities of the Kurzeme region – Ventspils novads and Grobiņas novads.

However, on-shore wind energy could become an important source for Latvia's power supply.  It should be introduced in an efficient way to minimize or even avoid premium compensations (compared to the market price) and provide regional or local benefits. Latvia has developed grid capacity and balancing capacities, which will allow for up to 800-1000 MW wind capacity integration in the power network in the next years. Currently the EIA procedure is at final stage for the new large scale modern wind-park (51 turbines with total capacity more than 200 MW) planned to be installed in Dobele and Tukums municipalities, the public discussion on it demonstrate high importance of local social acceptance issues.

The National Desk serves as an instrument for stakeholders to assess the situation in the region including obstacles to the dissemination of wind energy and future perspectives. Together, the involved stakeholders cooperate to reach a common vision for on-shore energy and lay out a plan to achieve it. The Latvian National Desk facilitates dialogue about existing barriers, creates a common understanding and works on and effective solutions for wind energy development.

The desk is coordinated by the Latvian Environmental Investment Fund in close cooperation with the Institute of Physical Energetics (IPE). Stakeholders or the desk meets on a regular basis – once every six months in the frame of national desk meetings or thematic workshops. So far there have been organized two national desk meetings and one thematic workshop in Latvia. National desk meetings serve as a platform to let desk participants’ voice their opinions on relevant onshore wind energy issues, and to clarify their needs for discussions.