The amount of capacity for future power plants, which the developers plan to connect to the infrastructure of the electricity distribution operator AS “Sadales tīkls” and for which the operator has already reserved capacities, has reached 1040 megawatts (MW) or 1.04 gigawatts (GW) in the second half of July. On the other hand, the total amount of reserved production capacity for the planned power stations in both the distribution and transmission system (AS “High Voltage Network”) exceeds the current actual consumption in the country by at least four times.
At the end of 2021, the amount of capacity reserved for the planned power stations in the “Distribution Network” was around 180 MW. So, within half a year, this amount has increased six times in the distribution system alone. Until now, RES generation facilities with a total capacity of approximately 300 MW have already been connected to the distribution system and are currently operating.
Capacity reservation does not affect microgeneration customers
Customers who want to produce electricity themselves can connect to the distribution system either a microgenerator – a generating device for the production of electricity in small volumes with a capacity of up to 11.1 kilowatts (kW), or a power plant – a generating device exceeding 11.1 kW and intended for the production of electricity in larger volumes, including for commercial purposes – electricity trade.
Reservation of microgeneration capacities is not affected – anyone interested can install solar panels, for example, on the roof of a private house. In order to connect a microgenerator for parallel work with the distribution network, the “Distribution Network” must submit a relevant application, which can be easily done on the customer portal www.e-st.lv.
On the other hand, capacity reservation for the future power plant in the “Distribution network” takes place at the moment when the operator processes the developer’s application, evaluating the impact of the project on the network, and issues technical requirements (rules). After receiving the technical requirements, the developer can start work on the implementation of the generation project. Applications for the development of a power plant, including their potential impact on the reliability of the distribution system and network capacity, are individually reviewed in the order of arrival – if there is no freely available capacity in the amount desired by the developer at a given time and place, it is possible to reserve either a smaller capacity, if it is available, or get to the line of power station connection applications published on the “Distribution Network” website. Not all projects for which capacities are reserved are implemented by developers, so the situation with freely available capacities is variable. As capacity becomes available again, it is offered to the next applicants in the queue. In addition, “Sadales tīkls”, aware of the customers’ interest in the production of electricity from renewable resources, regularly invests in the development of the network and the increase of capacity, also attracting funding from European funds.
If all the planned power plants were built, we would produce more than we currently consume
Huge interest in reserving capacity for future power generation projects can also be observed at the power transmission system operator JSC “Augstsprieguma tīkls” (AST), where the total amount of reserved generation capacity reached around 3.5 GW in the second half of July. The maximum consumption load in Latvia according to the control measurements carried out by AST in 2021 was 1.25 GW, while the minimum was 0.52 GW; average consumption in summer was around 0.8 GW, in winter – around 0.9 GW. The total amount of capacity reserved for future power stations at both electricity supply operators currently already exceeds 4.5 GW, which is many times more than what is needed in Latvia. Moreover, this is without taking into account the amount of generation already connected to both power supply systems.
Electricity supply operators develop the electricity grid, taking into account the actual needs of the society (total consumption) and predicting a reasonable reserve, thus ensuring as little as possible the impact of network maintenance costs on the tariff. Accordingly, the network capacity is more than sufficient for the consumption needs of the population of Latvia, while the developers have applied for future generation projects with a total capacity that in many places already exceeds the reserve capacity of the distribution system and also the actual consumption needs of the population. Therefore, there may be cases when the power plant developer does not immediately have the desired capacity available for reservation, especially if it is planned to be developed in a place where electricity is consumed little. The root of the problem actually lies in the fact that there is a pronounced imbalance of production-consumption capacities. Namely, consumption is most active in city centers, but installing, for example, solar stations for commercial purposes – electricity trading – is often desired in remote regions, where historically small network capacities have been required. We invite the developers of commercial projects to carefully evaluate the construction site of the power stations, choosing an area with adequate consumption, then the situation with the deficit of available capacity will also decrease.
“Sadales tīkls” board member and development director Jānis Kirkovalds
In order to streamline the capacity reservation procedure in the conditions of the existing huge interest, the validity period of the technical requirements has been shortened from May 1 of this year – for projects that want to be connected to the electricity distribution system, it has been shortened from 2 years to 9 months. Amendments to the Electricity Market Law have also just been approved, which provide for the introduction of a fee for system capacity reservation for power plants with a capacity of more than 50 kilowatts (kW), which the developer will recover if the project is implemented according to the deadline.
Both the shorter validity period of technical requirements and the fee for system capacity reservation will encourage developers to plan generation projects more responsibly and thoughtfully. Currently, there is concern that individual developers tend to reserve capacity without real plans to implement the project. It is probably done in the hope that the issued technical requirements can be passed on to other interested parties for a fee. I would like to emphasize that such plans are unfounded, because the permission of the Ministry of Economy (ME), which developers of high-power projects must obtain before reserving capacity, is issued to a specific merchant and land cadastre. Accordingly, the right to implement the project cannot be transferred to another merchant without changes to the EM permit, which means that the specific application will be canceled and the new application will come to the end of the queue, if one has already been created at the relevant substation.
“Sadales tīkls” board member and development director Jānis Kirkovalds
Extensive information on connecting both the power plant and the microgenerator for parallel work with the distribution network is available on the company’s website www.sadalestikls.lv.
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