The Baltic region may seem an unlikely place to roll out solar power plants. Estonian renewables developer Sunly has secured €85 million ($96.8 million) in debt to build four solar parks in Latvia. The developments, which will have a combined capacity of 329 megawatts, align with Latvia’s goal of increasing its use of renewables to 57% by 2030, up from about 44% today, and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.
Funding came from the European Investment Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and financial services group SEB. EIB’s Thomas Östros said the Latvian solar parks are “a blueprint for how we can accelerate the green transition while strengthening regional energy security.”
The debt raise follows Sunly’s €62 million debt package in March to finance a 244-megawatt solar park in Estonia, one of the largest such developments in the Baltics. Sunly now provides electricity directly to retail customers near its energy parks.
Energy independence
Latvia and its Baltic neighbors have overhauled their energy supply chains since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Countries in the region imported large quantities of natural gas from Russia. Latvia, along with Lithuania and Estonia, stopped importing gas from Russia in April 2022; it officially banned the imports in 2023.
This year, Latvia and its two neighbors disconnected their electricity systems from Russia’s grid in order to better integrate with the rest of Europe.
