Latvenergo AS is the leading producer of electricity and thermal energy in Latvia. The power plants of Latvenergo AS generate more than half of the total amount of electricity consumed in the country. Up to now, the largest part of electricity has been generated at hydropower plants (HPP). In total, approximately 70% of the electricity generated by Latvenergo AS comes from renewable and environmentally friendly energy sources, whereas the remaining electricity is generated by combined heat and power plants working in cogeneration mode.
When an integrated power system was developed historically, the base load power plants were built in Estonia (oil shale power plants) and Lithuania (Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant [NPP], the Elektrenai Power Plant). In Latvia, Daugava HPPs are designed for “peak”, “half-peak” and emergency modes of operation (for example, when the main generation loads at Ignalina NPP are cut off). In these hydropower plants, it is possible to increase or decrease the load comparatively quickly or sharply as the need arises. Due to the much more complicated technological process, the generation loads cannot be changed so swiftly at coal and oil shale stations.
Up to now, Latvenergo’s combined heat and power plants have been generating approximately 70% of the heat consumed by the city of Riga and about 20% of the electricity consumed by the country. The power units set up at these power stations help provide the base loads of electricity. Latvenergo AS imports the remaining part of the basic state electricity supply from Estonia, Lithuania and Russia, and there is also an opportunity of electricity supply from the Scandinavian States (through Nordpool Exchange). These different energy sources guarantee uninterrupted electricity supply in Latvia.
The power generation process at Latvenergo AS is based on two types of energy sources:
1) renewable energy sources – power plants and boiler houses operated by water, power-generating wood and wind (Plavinas HES, Riga HES, Kegums HES, Aiviekste HES, Ainazi WPP, Kegums boiler house);
2) combined heat and power plants operated by fossil fuel (Riga TEC-1, Riga TEC-2 et. al.).
Latvenergo AS increasingly concentrates on the “green” energy generation. To this end, the company not only reconstructs the existing facilities of its HPPs but also explores new ways of energy generation. To be on good terms with the environmental requirements is self-evident in the contemporary world, and the environmental protection factors have to be taken into account. Therefore, Latvenergo AS more and more emphasises a unified environmental protection system. The equipment modernisation is just one step toward the implementation of a more environmentally friendly economy.
