Eesti Gaas started the construction of the first solar plant in Latvia
Eesti Gaas, the largest privately owned energy company in Finland and the Baltic region, started construction of its first solar power plant with a capacity of approximately 4 megawatts in Nica, Latvia, near Liepaja.
Pärnu solar park complex
“We will continue to diversify our energy portfolio and bring new solutions and megawatts to the market – in addition to the solar and biomethane plants already operating in Estonia, we will start the construction of solar plants in Latvia, solar energy is the most predictable and also the most accepted form of renewable energy by the community,” said Margus Kaasik, chairman of the board of Eesti Gaas.
“This is the sunniest place in Latvia, as the name also confirms. In addition to Nica, which we can also expand if necessary, we have selected two more locations in Latvia for the development of solar plants,” said Kaasik.
The Nica solar power plant with a panel capacity of approximately 4 megawatts will be completed in the spring of next year and will supply the city of Liepaja with electricity. The plant covers the electricity needs of about a thousand households. The investment of the solar plant reaches 2.7 million euros.
Eesti Gaas started producing electricity from the sun in 2019, when together with a company belonging to the city of Pärnu, it launched Estonia’s at that time largest solar park complex 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 twenty smaller solar plants for its customers all over Estonia.
In addition to the production of solar electricity, Eesti Gaas operates in renewable energy in the field of biomethane, selling the gas produced at three biomethane plants in Oisu in Järva County, Ilmatsalu in Tartu County and Vinni in Lääne-Viru County as engine fuel at its CNG filling stations. Biomethane is a fuel with a negative footprint that promotes the circular economy and is produced from biodegradable waste, manure, wort, and food waste.
Operating in five markets – Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland – Eesti Gaas grew last year to become the largest energy company with private capital in Finland and the Baltic region. Eesti Gaas offers its customers natural gas in the form of pipeline gas, compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) and manages the largest gas network in Estonia and Latvia. The company is actively engaged in international energy trade and develops a renewable energy portfolio in the form of solar energy and biomethane production and sales. In foreign markets, Eesti Gaas is called Elenger.
