Ørsted establishing foothold in North-Eastern Europe

World’s leading offshore wind developer Ørsted has submitted an application to build and operate an offshore wind farm in a country that is just only beginning to tap into its offshore wind potential.

Denmark’s Ørsted submitted an application to build and operate an offshore wind farm in the Baltic Sea at the end of April.

The application was submitted to Latvia’s Ministry of Economics.

According to the regulatory framework, the Ministry of Economics will assess the compliance of the information provided within the submission with the requirements of regulatory enactments within a month.

The Ministry will then prepare a draft order for the Cabinet of Ministers on the determination of the construction area at sea by the end of July. In accordance with the procedures specified in regulatory enactments, the draft order will be forwarded to the Cabinet of Ministers for consideration.

The Cabinet of Ministers, taking into account the assessment provided by the Ministry of Economics, has the right to take a decision regarding the determination of the area at sea, or a refusal to determine the area.

Latvia is also, together with Estonia, pressing ahead with the project to jointly develop an offshore wind project in the Gulf of Riga, the Baltic Sea.

The wind farm will have a capacity of between 700 MW and 1,000 MW and is expected to be fully operational by 2030.

Estonia and Latvia plan to select the area for the construction of the wind farm, named ELWIND (Estonian – Latvian Wind), by the end of 2021, Latvia’s Ministry of Economics said.

The work on the project’s environmental impact assessment (EIA) is expected to start in 2021 as well.

The two countries are also currently working on the development of a detailed project timeline and construction plans.

The tender auction to select the developer of the project is expected in 2025 or 2026.

Seeing that this is a project involving two countries, it could qualify as a regional project with a possibility to receive co-financing from CEF RES (The Connecting Europe Facility of Renewable Energy).

Estonia and Latvia are now working on securing funds for the project from CEF RES.

”We agree with our Estonian colleagues that by implementing a joint offshore wind farm project, we can reap greater benefits at lower costs. Analyzing the development opportunities of offshore wind farms in the Baltic Sea region, the potential for cost-effective electricity generation through transnational cooperation projects has been identified. Such cooperation between neighboring countries is unique in the world: the two countries combine their expertise to improve electricity connections and security of supply in the region. Cross-border cooperation will allow applying for European Union co-financing for the construction of the network and the preparation of an environmental impact assessment. At the same time, the establishment of offshore wind farms will facilitate the diversion of high-capacity electricity generation facilities away from populated areas,” Latvia’s Minister of Economics Jānis Vitenbergs, said.