One of the energy projects that has recently experienced an increase in price is the supply and installation of the energy-storing battery system in Latvia, but solutions are being sought to attract additional funding, Katarina Sikova, head of the Green Transition and Energy Systems Integration Department of the European Commission’s (EC) General Directorate for Energy, said in an interview with LETA agency. – Magnia, emphasizing that she is optimistic about the outcome.
She emphasized that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused not only a significant increase in the prices of energy resources, but also caused disruptions in the supply chains of various materials, which caused, for example, an increase in steel prices and made it difficult to access certain raw materials.
“We see that in some projects the procurement prices are higher than budgeted, and this creates significant limitations and problems. We are evaluating what support can be provided using the Recovery Fund and other instruments at our disposal. Two such examples are also in the Baltics. One is the project of supply and installation of electric energy storage battery systems (BESS) equipment in Latvia and the other is the electricity interconnection between Lithuania and Poland “Harmony Link” and is part of the desynchronization project. In both cases the costs have increased significantly, but we are working on finding solutions with all the countries involved, said Sikova-Magnia.
She pointed out that in the case of the electric energy storage battery project, additional funding is being sought from the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) as well as the Regeneration Fund.
“Work on it continues and I am quite optimistic that we will manage to find a solution,” said the representative of the EC.
On the other hand, in the case of “Harmony Link”, whose creation prices have also increased quite significantly, the project promoters evaluate alternative technical solutions. Instead of the connection crossing the sea, it is being considered whether the “Rail Baltica” railway line could be used for this purpose and an electric line built along the “Rail Baltica” track. If it is technically possible, the project would cost less and could be included in the budget that was planned, Sikova-Magnija said.
It has already been announced that the operator of the Latvian electricity transmission system AS “Augstsprieguma tīkls” (AST) has received three offers to supply and install electricity storage battery systems in substations in Tume and Rēzekne. Proposals to install battery systems were received from SIA “Monum”, the French company “Nidec ASI” and the German company “Rolls-Royce Solutions”. Financial offers range from 79 million euros to 87 million euros.
The offers were received in the open negotiation procedure organized by AST, which was announced on July 20, 2023 and provided for a contract price of 100 million euros. Previously, AST terminated the negotiation procedure announced on July 21, 2022, in which EUR 58.66 million was indicated as the expected contract price.
AST plans to purchase a battery system with a total capacity of 80 megawatts and a capacity of 160 megawatt-hours, deploying the battery systems in two locations. A 20-megawatt and 40-megawatt-hour battery will be located at the AST substation in Tume, and a 60-megawatt and 120-megawatt-hour battery will be located at the AST substation in Rēzekne.
In January 2022, a co-financing of 30 million euros was granted from the CEF fund for the installation of batteries at the AST Rēzekne substation. On the other hand, AST undertook to install batteries at the Tume substation at its own expense. In general, project costs not covered by CEF were estimated at 47.3 million euros at the beginning of 2022, and AST planned to cover them from its own funds, as well as by attracting funding from the capital markets.
Battery systems are necessary for the security of Latvia’s energy supply and power balancing after the synchronization of the electricity grids of the Baltic countries with the European electricity grids and the disconnection from the BRELL circle, which connects the energy systems of the Baltic countries with Russia and Belarus.
2023-12-11 10:01:10
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