Lithuania and Flanders ink offshore wind MOU

Vilnius, November 23 - Neftegaz.RU.Lithuanian Minister of Energy Žygimantas Vaičiūnas and Flemish Minister of Energy Zuhal Demir signed a MOU, agreeing to promote renewable energy and identify joint opportunities, especially in offshore wind in the Baltic Sea.

Under the MOU, Lithuania and Flanders will explore and realise joint investments in renewable energy initiatives and, more specifically, they will work together on the development of joint offshore wind projects in the Baltic Sea.

“As EU raises climate ambition targets it is the perfect time to start building new joint initiatives in the area of renewable energy. Moreover, this cooperation is also instrumental in optimizing investments by exploiting potential of EU financial opportunities”, said Vaičiūnas.

The strengthened ties between Flanders and Lithuania aim at generating investment and creating additional offshore wind capacity in the Baltic Sea, which is in line with the EU legislation that encourages active cooperation between member states on the road to achieving renewable energy targets, according to a press release from the Lihuanian government.

These concrete initiatives aim at contributing to both compliance with the post-2020 renewable targets and to providing economic, environmental and social benefits in terms of job creation and enhancing security of supply.

“This cooperation will enable the Flemish region to reach its policy objectives in a more cost effective way, since the potential for renewable energy in Flanders is rather limited due to inter alia the high population density and the limited remaining available space for wind energy”, said Demir.

In Lithuania, offshore wind plans have been picking up the pace over the past year. Earlier this year, the Lithuanian government approved the concept of wind power development in the country’s maritime territory prepared by the Ministry of Energy, which proposed changes to the legal regulation. The government then instructed the Ministry of Energy to prepare draft laws regulating the support scheme for offshore wind farms by 1 July.

The new regulations would facilitate financing and developing offshore wind projects under a Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme, and would also accommodate building a 700 MW offshore wind farm in the Baltic Sea, for which plans have already been approved by the government.