Eesti Gaas (Estonian Gas), the largest privately owned energy company in the Baltic region and Finland, opened a solar power plant with a capacity of 4 megawatts in Nica, near Liepaja, in the sunniest place in Latvia.
“Gas is a partner to renewable energy and Latvia is an important market for us. Our goal is to diversify our energy portfolio and bring new megawatts to the market – we regularly evaluate various projects and directions in the field of renewable energy to be developed in the coming years, and we see potential in solar and wind energy and biomethane production,” said Margus Kaasik, chairman of the board of Eesti Gaas.
Eesti Gaas’ new solar power plant is located near Liepaja in Nica, which is one of the sunniest regions in Latvia. The solar park with nearly 7,000 panels covers 5.3 hectares and will produce 4.5 GWh of energy per year.
“Each new renewable energy project brings Latvia closer to stable and affordable energy prices for both residents and businesses, creates jobs and promotes economic development. A distributed portfolio of energy production, which includes sun, wind, biogas, in the future also hydrogen and other sources, will strengthen the country’s independence from external influences,” said Latvian Minister of Climate and Energy Kaspars Melnis.
“Our goal is to diversify our energy portfolio and bring new megawatts to the market.”
Margus Kaasik, chairman of the board of Eesti Gaas
The rapid growth of renewable energy capacity is an important component to achieve the goal of doubling Latvia’s economy by 2035, added Latvian Economy Minister Viktors Valainis. “The security factor is also important – Latvia must be ready to ensure continuous energy supply at a reasonable price after the power grids are disconnected from the BRELL circuit at the beginning of next year. Every new renewable energy project, including the new Nica solar power plant, helps to achieve this goal,” noted Valainis.
The solar power plant was built in cooperation with SIA “OMS”, one of the largest builders of electrical installations in the Kurzeme region. The solar power plant was completed on a market basis, without state subsidies, Eesti Gaas invested 2.5 million euros in the construction.
Eesti Gaas started solar energy production in 2019, when together with a company belonging to the city of Pärnu, it launched Estonia’s largest solar park complex at the time at the former Rääma landfill. The Pärnu solar power plant consists of 13,000 panels and the power of its panels reaches 4.7 megawatts. Eesti Gaas has also built some twenty smaller solar plants for its customers all over Estonia.
In addition to the production of solar electricity, Eesti Gaas operates in the field of biomethane in renewable energy by selling the gas produced at three biomethane plants as engine fuel at its CNG filling stations. Biomethane is a fuel with a negative footprint promoting the circular economy, it is produced from biodegradable waste, manure, wort, food waste.
Eesti Gaas is the largest energy company on private capital in Finland and the Baltic region, 80 percent of the group’s revenues come from foreign markets. In addition to Estonia, the company operates in Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Germany, in foreign markets Eesti Gaas is called Elenger.
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