Renewable energy - our path to a sustainable future

Two years ago, the Ministry of Energy predicted that Lithuania’s renewable energy breakthrough would come in 2025, with the installation of 8 gigawatts (GW) of solar and wind farms. This generation should provide up to 80% of the country’s total demand. Is this realistic?

2024 m. In the middle of the year, the 3 GW generation had not even been reached yet, which means that more than 5 GW were missing. Is it possible to not only get permits but also build that many renewable energy projects in a year and a half?

Also, the Ministry of Energy has repeatedly declared publicly that it is aiming to achieve a target of €1 billion by 2027-2030. Lithuania would generate all the electricity it needs from renewable sources and even become an electricity exporter.

The goals are big and loud, and only the future will tell whether they will be even partially achieved.

The Ministry of Energy announces that in 2024 Lithuania will have produced more domestic electricity than it imported – according to preliminary data, the country’s power plants produced 62% of the country’s electricity last year. of the energy needed for consumption, and 38% of the energy needed for imported. This compares to 2024. Around 14% of the total was produced. more electricity than in 2023

The allowable generation capacity of wind farms increased by 41.7% in 2024 compared to 2023. Wind farms generated 30.6% more electricity last year than in 2023 and 118% more than in 2022.

Last year, solar power plants generated 2.2 times more electricity than in 2023 and 5.1 times more than in 2022.

“The Energy Distribution Operator (ESO) announces that in September, it connected 2,190 new generating consumers to the grid who installed solar power plants on the same or adjacent property. A further 635 residents became customers of remote solar parks. On average, around 3,200 people were connected to the network per month this year. of new generating consumers, and the total number of generating consumers in Lithuania has already reached almost 118,000.

The installation of solar power plants continues to progress with the changing seasons: in September, ESO received 3,220 applications to become a generating customer or to increase the capacity of an existing plant. It takes an average generating consumer 24 days to set up a power plant.