Funding for renewable energy projects in the Baltic and Eastern European countries is currently available; however, the main challenge is no longer finding money, but finding consumers of electricity. This conclusion was reached by participants of the business forum of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in Riga.
Banks and investment funds are ready to actively finance renewable energy projects in Eastern Europe. However, the further development of the sector increasingly depends not on the availability of capital, but on the region's ability to increase the consumption of the produced electricity.
This assessment was made by energy sector experts during a discussion at the business forum of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), which is taking place in Riga.
Discussion participants noted that the Baltic countries should be viewed as a single energy market. In their opinion, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia need a common vision of what facilities and in what volumes should be built to avoid an imbalance between energy production and consumption.
Industry representatives pointed out another problem that has become particularly noticeable in recent years. Due to the rapid development of solar energy, the price of electricity in the market drops to nearly zero during certain hours.
What is important to understand is that low prices are not always good news for the sector. If there is no one to buy the produced electricity, the payback of new projects becomes more complicated, despite high investor interest.
Therefore, one of the key areas of development that experts mention is energy storage systems (BESS), which allow for the storage of electricity generated by solar and wind power plants and its use when demand increases.
Another solution could be attracting large data centers to the region. Such facilities consume huge amounts of electricity and can become an important source of demand for green energy producers.
According to discussion participants, for data center operators today, not only electricity prices are important but also the stability of energy supply. Experts believe that the emergence of at least one large international data center in the Baltic countries could stimulate further investments in the region.
As another driver of consumption growth, the electrification of transport was mentioned. Although a single electric vehicle has little impact on the energy system, a mass transition to electric transport could significantly increase the demand for electricity in the future.
At the same time, funding for projects remains accessible. Representatives of investment funds and energy companies stated that banks continue to actively finance renewable energy projects in Eastern Europe. Moreover, investors maintain interest in the region even amid ongoing geopolitical tensions.
In fact, the discussion revealed a shift in the main question of the energy market. If just a few years ago the main problem was finding investments for building new capacities, today the focus is increasingly on who will consume the growing volumes of produced electricity.
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