The Latvian parliament, the Saeima, has approved in final reading amendments that will allow Lithuania, Estonia, and Finland to store strategic gas reserves at the underground gas storage facility in Incukalns, LSM reports. The three Baltic States have earlier signed solidarity agreements on gas supplies. The amendments will also free the operator of the Incukalns…
The three Baltic States, together with Finland, Poland, and Germany, should build a green hydrogen corridor by 2040, according to a feasibility study commissioned by the Nordic and Baltic gas transmission system operators, BNS reports. The 2,500-kilometre corridor would transport up to 2.7 million tonnes of hydrogen fuel per year. The corridor could reduce CO2…
Baltic transport ministers called for increased EU funding for strategic transport infrastructure projects, The Baltic Times reports. The ministers insisted that the Connecting Europe Facility has to remain one of the key instruments in the EU’s next multiannual financial framwork as of 2028, with sufficient funding for cross-border transport, energy, and electronic communications projects. They…
Estonia’s Ministry of Climate will propose legislation to support the development of more wind farms both on land and at sea, ERR reports. Climate Minister Yoko Alender said that the ministry would create a 20-year support plan for offshore wind farms. The ministry plans to hold an auction for offshore wind capacity in the first…
Latvia’s electricity production totalled 6,388 GWh in 2023, which was 27.0% more than in 2022, according to data from the Central Statistical Bureau (CSP), LSM reports. Renewable energy sources accounted for 4,963 GWh of total electricity production, which was 1,146 GWh (30.0%) more than a year earlier. Hydro power plants generated 3,794 GWh of electricity (up…
Estonian power plants produced 5,686 GWh of electricity in 2023, which was 37% less than in 2022, according to data from Statistics Estonia, ERR reports. Power plants produced 4,323 GWh of heat energy (district heating), which was down 15% on year. The amount of electricity generated from oil shale fell by nearly 40% over a…
Lithuania plans to allocate more than 3% of its GDP to defence, President Gitanas Nauseda announced, BNS reports. Speaking during a joint press conference with Polish President Andrzej Duda in Warsaw, Nauseda said that Lithuania would follow Poland’s example of raising defence spending. Also, he said that the two countries would soon begin training Ukrainian…
The Latvian government has decided to pay compensation to low-income households for rapid rises in energy prices, LSM reports. The permanent support mechanism will apply to exceptional price increases for electricity, heating, and biomass fuels. Households with per capita income of up to EUR 473 per month and housing expenditure of at least 30% of…
Estonia’s industrial production declined by 5.8% at constant prices on year in July 2024, according to Statistics Estonia, ERR reports. Output rose by 16.9% in mining and 16.3% in electricity production, but fell by 7.8% in manufacturing. The volume of industrial production declined in more than two thirds of manufacturing sectors. Meanwhile, sales of manufacturing…