Latvia Boosts Capacity for ELWIND Offshore Wind Project

November 22, 2023, by Adnan Memija

The Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Latvia has determined that the planned target capacity of the offshore wind farm on the Latvian side of the ELWIND project will be up to 1,000 MW.

ELWIND is a Latvia-Estonia cross-border offshore wind project for which the countries started discussions in December 2019.

The governments of Latvia and Estonia already selected the locations in their respective parts of the Baltic Sea where their joint project will be built.

Last year, the Latvian government disclosed that this country’s portion of the ELWIND wind farm area is located in the Kurzeme region, between Liepaja and Ventspils, approximately 15-20 kilometres from the coastline.

According to the government, the Cabinet of Ministers took into account the size of the research areas and the capacity of offshore wind farms planned in the neighboring countries, as well as trends in supply chains, and determined that the planned target capacity of the offshore wind farm on the Latvian side of the ELWIND project will be up to 1,000 MW.

An offshore wind farm of such capacity will allow to attract investors more efficiently, as well as contribute to a lower price of electricity in the region, said the government.

Until now, it was planned that the total capacity of Latvian and Estonian wind farms could reach between 700 MW and 1,000 MW.

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Currently, the Latvian Investment and Development Agency (LIAA), together with the Estonian Environmental Investment Center, is preparing the procurement documentation for the necessary studies of the ELWIND project, so that at the beginning of 2024, it will be possible to purchase service providers and start researching wind farm areas, the government said.

The tender for the rights to develop the ELWIND offshore wind project is scheduled to be held in 2026. The project is expected to enter the construction phase in 2028 and be commissioned by 2030 at the earliest.