Lithuania’s Environmental Protection Agency has approved the environmental impact assessment (EIA) report for the country’s 700MW second offshore wind farm commissioned by the Ministry of Energy.
The tender to select the developer of the site is scheduled to be launched on 15 January next year. This proposal by the Ministry of Energy still needs to be approved by the government.
“As Lithuania strengthens its energy independence, another significant milestone in the development of offshore wind energy has been completed with the approval of the environmental impact assessment report on the second offshore wind farm,” said vice-Minister of Energy Daiva Garbaliauskaitė.
“Over two years, important surveys and monitoring have been carried out in the Baltic Sea, conclusions and alternatives for the development of the wind farm have been drawn up, and presentations have been made to the public, interest groups and representatives of foreign countries.”
According to Ms Garbaliauskaitė, the most environmentally friendly alternative has been chosen: the site will be developed within 2km of the boundary of the Natura 2000 protected area and the wind farm models to be used can reach a height of 350m.
The Environmental Protection Agency has approved the conclusions of the EIA landscape assessment experts that the visual impact of the proposed offshore wind farm will be insignificant, as well as the impact mitigation measures and actions to be implemented and ensured by the developer during the construction and operation of the offshore wind farm.
Poland, Latvia, Finland, Sweden and Denmark participated in the transboundary evaluation of the EIA report on offshore wind farms.
The Ministry of Energy is planning two 1.4GW offshore wind farms in Lithuania’s Baltic Sea territory. These sites could generate around 6TWh of green electricity per year, which is around half of current electricity demand of Lithuania.
The second 700MW offshore wind farm, for which the European Commission has approved a €193m state aid scheme, covers an area of around 136.39square kilometres in the Baltic Sea. The project will be about 30km from the coast.
In order to implement the provisions of the Law on Renewable Energy, the Ministry of Energy has been organising preparatory works for the second offshore wind farm tender: a development plan for the offshore area for renewable energy facilities has already been approved, and proposals for the connection of the two wind farms to the onshore grid are being prepared, bottom geophysical and geotechnical surveys have been carried out in the project area, and the wind speeds and other hydrometeorological parameters have been measured.
The EIA report on the offshore wind farm was commissioned by the Ministry of Energy and the assessment has been carried out and the report has been prepared by the Public Institution Coastal Research and Planning Institute.