Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas visited Latvia on 15th October. She met with Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš, with whom she discussed, among other things, on energy security. One of the topics discussed was offshore wind energy.
The Prime Ministers of Estonia and Latvia discussed topical issues and cooperation at international level. Kallas said during the meeting that there is room for ambition in the two countries’ relationship.
“For example, what is happening in the electricity market shows very convincingly how important energy independence and investments in RES are for the whole of Europe. I am glad that Estonia and Latvia are taking a joint step forward in this area – we are planning an offshore wind farm in the Gulf of Riga. The joint Estonian-Latvian offshore wind farm is a pioneering cooperation project for the whole of Europe, Prime Minister Kallas said.
We recall, that the Ministries of Energy of Estonia and Latvia signed a Memorandum of Understanding on 18 September 2020, under which the two countries plan a joint offshore wind farm with a capacity of up to 1000 MW by 2030. Eesti Energia and Ørsted signed a cooperation agreement in 2021, and are also planning to build an offshore farm.
The ELWIND project is an Estonian-Latvian concept for a joint hybrid offshore wind project in the Baltic Sea. The total capacity of the planned offshore wind farm is 700 – 1000 MW, which will provide more than 3 TWh of energy annually. The offshore wind installation will be up and running by 2030.
