The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has signed a US$96.7mn loan to the majority Lithuanian state-owned power company Lietuvos Elektrine.
The loan will go towards building a new state-of-the-art combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) close to the city of Elektrenai, about 30 miles (50km) from Lithuania’s capital, Vilnius.
The CCGT will replace two of the plant’s eight outdated facilities and add an extra 150 megawatts (MW) to the current capacity, which stands at 1,800MW.
This comes after the Ignalina power plant closed late last year, leaving both Lithuania and Latvia with a power deficit.
“These projects represent an example of the bank’s crisis response in the region and its commitment to providing crucial support for strategically important projects in the current challenging market,” comments Nandita Parshad, EBRD director of the power and energy team.
The EBRD is also financing the construction of a new power plant in Latvia with a US$204.7mn syndicated loan to Latvenergo, the state-owned company responsible for 95% of the country’s power.
The loan will be used to build a second CCGT unit at Latvenergo’s combined head and power facility, Riga CHP-2, to replace the conventional gas-fired units used there.
EBRD’s Julien Mauduit, operation leader for the power and energy team, thinks that the loans will provide a strong basis for future development in the Baltic region. He comments: “We are not only helping Lithuania and Latvia to address the current deficit in power capacity. Ignalina’s shutdown had created strong incentives for establishing an integrated power system in the Baltics.
“Through these projects, the EBRD is helping the Baltic states to lay the foundation for the development of the common Baltic electricity market, which can then be further interconnected to European networks.”
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