New nuclear build unnecessary says report from Nordic Council

Wind power, biomass and solar could completely meet the future energy needs of Latvia and possibly Lithuania, says a report financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers. Replacing the decommissioned Ignalina nuclear plant in Lithuania with a new 3000 MW plant to supply electricity to Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, and Latvia is a political hot potato in the region, but the report stresses that new nuclear build is not necessary at all. Janis Brizga from Latvia's environmental organisation Green Liberty says the country should embrace energy efficiency and renewables. So far, Latvia has only flirted with small scale wind projects. Next year, Sia Lenkas Energo is installing a 2 MW DeWind unit in the Liepaja area, site of some of Latvia's best wind resources and its largest wind plant, the 19.8 MW Veja Parks project. Lithuania is slightly more vibrant, with developer 4energia in the final stages of financing the 8 MW Sudenai and 6 MW Lendimai projects in the northwest of the country. A fixed feed-in tariff for wind power is needed in Latvia to help it compete with hydro and combined heat and power plants, Brizga says.