The Farmers' Assembly met with the Minister of Climate and Energy

At the end of January, representatives of the association "Farmers' Council" (ZSA) met with the Minister of Climate and Energy Raimonds Čudars about electricity production for self-consumption needs and opportunities to connect to the electricity grid.

As many farmers who want to start renewable energy production know, most electricity substations are currently fully booked and some interested parties are on the waiting list. This situation has been created by commercial power plant project developers who have booked unprecedented total capacities – over 1000MW, as a result, those farmers who would like to connect to the electricity grid with a capacity of over 11kW are unable to do so.

From the association "Farmers' Council" we invited Ministry of Climate and Energy to make amendments to the necessary regulatory enactments and:

1. allow farmers to connect to reserve electricity generation capacities in places where available capacities have already been reserved, taking into account that agricultural producers are scattered throughout the territory of Latvia, which allows electricity producers to be closer to consumers at times when the electricity produced is not used for their own needs;

2. farmers who wish to connect to the grid for self-consumption electricity generation needs to be given the opportunity to do so without queuing, taking into account that agricultural production is a matter of national security and one of the most important exporting sectors.

Negotiations on these issues will continue, as it is necessary to understand how many projects that intend to purchase equipment intended for the production of renewable energy will be submitted in the final round of modernization. It is also necessary to understand how many applicants will give up reserved connection capacities for the production of electricity for commercial purposes, as they will have to start paying for the reserved capacities. For its part, the ZSA will also simultaneously promote the relevant amendments to the regulatory enactments, which would allow farmers who want to connect to the grid for the needs of self-consumption electricity production to do so without waiting in line.

The ZSA also called on the parties involved to stipulate in the regulatory enactments that the installation of solar panels, which are not intended for the production of electricity for self-consumption, is not permitted on lands suitable for the production of agricultural products. On the other hand, the installation of solar panels for commercial purposes would be permitted on organic soils, where the production of agricultural products may be limited in the coming years. It should be noted that organic soils in Latvia cover approximately 120 thousand hectares and are found in all regions of Latvia.

We remind you that in the current geopolitical situation, food production is a matter of national security, which should not be limited by the use of agricultural land suitable for agricultural production for other purposes.