Rytis Kėvelaitis, CEO of Energy Unlimited, summarizes for BalticWind.EU the first three months in the offshore wind sector in Lithuania. As he said, the key milestone is the adoption of the renewable energy law amendments regarding offshore wind. The commentary was originally published in BalticWind.EU Quarterly Country Report Lithuania Q1 2022.
Breakthrough regulations for Lithuania’s offshore wind sector
Rytis Kėvelaitis in the special commentary for BalticWind.EU indicated that the key milestone in Lithuanian offshore market in Q1 2022 is the adoption of the renewable energy law amendments regarding the offshore wind on March 31st by the Lithuanian Parliament. The law sets up the legal framework for the 700 MW offshore wind auction in September 2023. There have been some changes in the auction design after the discussions in the Parliament – he said. Kėvelaitis explained that the adopted model is the mixture of the double-sided contract for difference (CfD) and zero subsidy bid. If bid is higher than 0, the winner is defined by the lowest desired annual potential incentive volume (calculated by the formula = (strike price – the lowest reference price) x amount of annual electricity production for the strike price). If bid is equal to 0, the winner is defined as the highest development fee which is paid into the state budget in equal installments within 5 years from the date of receipt of the electricity generation permit. To sum up, the law amendments incentivise the developers to submit zero-subsidy bids and offer the highest fixed development fee.
In addition, there are new requirements for the developers (financial capability & experience; local content, European and transatlantic integration compliance) as well as the increased bid bond from €10.5 million to €52.5 million – he said. The new requirements will be specified in the secondary legislation which is expected to be in place as soon as July 1st 2022.
Furthermore, Rytis Kėvelaitis added that regarding the site assessment for the auction, the Environmental impact assessment (EIA) programme for 700 MW site in Lithuania was published for the public consultation in March & procurement for the offshore site geotechnical surveys was won by the consortia of two Lithuanian companies – „Geobaltic“ and „Garant Diving“ – and Polish company „Lotos Petrobaltic”. From market news, the Green Genius – Polenergia announced the partnership for the offshore wind & plans to participate in the Lithuanian 700 MW auction in 2023 – he added.
The full article you can find in BalticWind.EU Quarterly Country Report Lithuania Q1 2022.
