Representatives of solar power plant developers: due to the limitation of 2 GW power, Lithuania may lose 3 billion. EUR investments in the development of solar power plants – Respublika.lt
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Part of the parliamentarians, for their part, say that the corresponding changes, in order to abolish this limit, must appear in the agenda of the spring session of the Seimas.
Ruslanas Sklepovičius, head of the renewable energy development company “Green Genius”, said that due to permanent restrictions on commercial solar power park projects, Lithuania risks losing 3 billion. euros of foreign investments, how much is needed to invest in the development of solar power plants.
According to him, these funds would be allocated to neighboring countries, such restrictions as in Lithuania do not apply. R. Sklepovičiaus noted that Lithuania is the only country in the European Union where restrictions are applied to solar energy and large solar park projects have been suspended.
In addition, he notes, due to the stalled projects, Lithuanian residents may overpay for electricity by about 300-500 million. euros.
“There were two suspensions (of commercial solar projects – ELTA). From those two suspensions, Lithuania may lose about 3 billion. EUR investments (those who work with foreign investments understand the scale. And consumers will overpay for electricity – during this year, consumers will overpay 300-500 million euros due to the suspension. Similarly, subsidies are given,” said R. Sklepovičius at a conference held in the Seimas on Tuesday.
According to him, if the quota is not abolished, it is likely that the development of power plants will become more expensive, and therefore solar energy will become more expensive.
“The more we do maneuvers that are inadequate in the eyes of foreign investors, the more expensive the capital. The more expensive the capital will be in electricity, the more expensive the cost of electricity,” said R. Sklepovičius.
The manager of “Green Genius” explained that in order for an investor to invest money in Lithuania, a foreign investor must believe that he will get a return from his investment in Lithuania.
“Foreign investors compare countries (…), and they ask why the quota comes to us. I do not know what to answer (…). Basically, there is no normal justification, because they invest in other countries, they can compare. Why invest in Lithuania, if you can invest in Latvia, which does not apply a quota”, he said.
R. Sklepovičius said that, in addition to the fact that there is still no stable regulatory environment, the attractiveness of Lithuania due to the war in Ukraine is a geopolitical risk (30% of respondents abandoned their plans in Lithuania due to the possible threat of Russia). It is also noticeable that there is no Lithuanian market.
Martynas Nagevičius, president of the Lithuanian Renewable Energy Confederation, said that the development of commercial solar power plants has been “completely stuck” for a year.
“The development of solar power plants connected to the transmission grid is completely stalled. It’s completely jammed, literally no one connected to the transmission network for about a year. Because the 2 GW cap was introduced along with the “breakthrough package”. (…) State institutions are still choosing which ones are worthy of investment and which ones are not. Therefore, no one is really investing now”, said M. Nagevičius.
According to Andrias Bagdon, MP of the Liberal faction, who initiated the conference, and other members of the Seimas participating in it – Artūrs Skardžius, Lukas Savicks, Romuald Vaitkaus and others. – Amendments should be presented and considered in the spring session of the Seimas, the 2 GW restrictions would be abolished.
“There are two ways out – return to the Seimas and destroy the existing law and quota. Another way would be for the Government to allow every investor who meets the operator’s requirements to invest in the field of renewable energy resources,” said liberal R. Vaitkus.
The development of commercial solar power parks stopped last July, when the total power of the power plants built and intended to be built in Lithuania exceeded the power limited by law – 2 GW.
Last week, the Constitutional Court accepted a complaint filed by a group of Seimas members, which claims that this restriction violates the Constitution.
Parliamentarians represented by Remigius Žemaita, a member of the Regions faction, argue that before the adoption of this provision of the law, the total installed capacity of solar power plants was not limited, and after its legalization, the limit of 2 GW was already exceeded.
In the application to the court by the members of the Seimas, it is noted that the legalized cumulative power quota violates the requirement arising from the constitutional principle of the rule of law for legislative subjects not to adopt legal acts that would be retroactive.
According to the provision adopted by the Seimas last summer in the “breakthrough package”, the total installed capacity of solar power plants cannot exceed 2 GW. The State Energy Regulatory Council, upon determining that the total installed capacity of solar power plants is equal to 2 GW, must inform the Ministry of Energy and power grid operators about this in writing. From the date of receipt of the relevant notice, electricity network operators can no longer issue preliminary connection conditions, connection conditions and sign letters of intent to manufacturers.
According to the letters of intent submitted by the developers, this limit was exceeded in 2022. in July VERT performed an audit of these protocols to ensure that all powers were reasonably reserved by the developers.