Solid biomass in Lithuania
General
The
national energy strategy of 18 January 2008
discusses the issues currently at
stake in Lithuania, namely energy efficiency, energy security and
environmental and management improvement. Specifically for Lithuania,
the fast economic development and the decommissioning of the main
nuclear power plant (Ignalina) in the end of the year 2009 are developments to be
noted. The strategy predicts that wind power plants and biomass plants
will contribute 7% of the electricity generation in 2010. National
targets are to increase the share of renewable energy resources in the
national balance of primary energy to 20% by 2025 (approximately 10.8%
in the year 2005) and to increase the share of biofuels in the
country’s market of the fuel used in transportation up to 15% in 2020
and up to 20% in 2025.
According
to the Directive 2009/28/EC of the European Parliament and of the
Council on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources
the target for the share of energy from renewable sources in gross
final consumption of energy in the year 2020 for Lithuania is 23% (in
the year 2005 the share was 15.0%). The Directive has a mandatory 10%
target for transport to be achieved by all Member States, which refers
to renewable sources as a whole, not biofuels alone.
Renewable energy projections according to the National Renewable Energy Action Plan for Lithuania
The
National Renewable Energy Action Plan (NREAP) for Lithuania was
submitted in July 2010. The target according to Annex I of Directive
2009/28/EC is 23% for the year 2020 and the projected NREAP share in
that year is 24.0%. According to the projection, the most important
contribution in the year 2020 is expected from biomass (renewable
heating and cooling) (1023 ktoe, 69% of all renewable energy). Second
important contribution is expected from biodiesel (renewable transport)
(131 ktoe, 9% of all renewable energy). The third largest contribution
is from wind power (1.3 TWh or 107 ktoe, 7% of all renewable energy).
Wind power contributes with 0.5 GW (1.3 TWh) in the year 2020 (all onshore
wind). For solar
photovoltaic the 2020 contribution is projected to be 10 MW (15 GWh).
For solar thermal the 2020 contribution is projected to be 9 ktoe. The
two most important biofuels are projected to contribute 131 ktoe
(biodiesel) and 36 ktoe (bioethanol / bio-ETBE) by 2020. The renewable
electricity production from solid biomass amounts to 0.8 TWh (70 ktoe)
and for biogas it is expected to be 0.4 TWh (36 ktoe). The consumption
of renewable heat is expected to amount to 973 ktoe for solid biomass
and 50 ktoe for biogas.
Renewable
electricity and heat: solid biomass
Biomass powered stationary energy plants
are exempted from the tax imposed for environment pollution. Generic measures in Lithuania are:
Reduction on the grid-connection fee in
case a generator uses renewable energy sources for electricity generation at a
40% discount.
The Lithuanian Environmental Investment
Fund was established in 1996 by the Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Lithuania, mainly funded by environment
pollution tax. The fund provides soft loans for financing environmental
projects among which renewable energy projects (up to a maximum loan of 1.5 mio
LTL per project, to be paid back over 5 years). In the period from 2000 to 2005
the fund provided means for 7 projects related to electricity production from
renewable energy sources (five hydropower plants (in total 974 kW), a 150 kW
wind turbine and a 750 kW electricity generation plant using biomass). In the
period from 2006 to 2007 another 3 hydropower plants were supported, as well as
a 2 MW wind plant.
EU Structural Funds have provided in the
period from 2004 to 2006 financial assistance for the construction and refurbishment of power
plants using renewable energy sources, of which mainly hydropower has
benefited, and one biomass CHP plant.
On 1 January 2008 the feed-in tariffs for
electricity from renewable energy sources have increased (Resolution No O3-63
of the State Price and Energy Control Commission, 13 September 2007. This means
that the new tariff is 6,95 Euro cents/kWh (previously 6,37 Euro cents/kWh)
Future
programme changes expected
No information available.
References
Seimas Of The Republic
Of Lithuania, Resolution On
The Approval Of The National Energy Strategy, 18 January 2007 No X-1046, Vilnius (Official
Translation)
Report of the republic of Lithuania
on the implementation of the requirements of Article 3 and Article 5 of directive 2001/77/ec of the
european parliament and of the council of 27 september 2001 on the promotion of
electricity produced from renewable energy sources in the internal electricity
market, http://ec.europa.eu/energy/res/legislation/doc/electricity/member_states/2006/lithuania_en.pdf
(sourced September 2008)
The National Renewable Energy Action
Plans (NREAPs) are all published on the Transparency Platform on
Renewable Energy: http://ec.europa.eu/energy/renewables/transparency_platform/action_plan_en.htm
(sourced July - December 2010)
Renewable Energy Projections as Published in the National Renewable
Energy Action Plans of the European Member States, http://www.ecn.nl/nreap
(sourced December 2010)
Interactive EurObserv’ER Database
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Last update: December 2010
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