Sunly breaks ground on 225MW solar PV parks in Latvia

Construction of the first project, located in Valmiera and with a capacity of 54MW, has already begun, while work on a substation has commenced for the 90MW solar PV plant in Krāslava. The third project, with a capacity of 81MW, will be located near another solar park from Sunly in the Madona region, which has an installed capacity of 11MW.

The 225MW Latvian solar PV portfolio is part of the company’s long-term strategy in the Baltic region and Poland, for which it secured €300 million (US$326 million) in debt financing for a 1.3GW renewables portfolio earlier this year.

All three projects are expected to be built as hybrid parks combining solar PV with battery energy storage systems (BESS). However, the company did not disclose the capacity of the BESS plants. The approach of combining different energy generation sources at a single connection point will allow the company to reduce operational costs and grid connection.

Sunly also highlighted the need for energy producers to prepare for the country, along with Estonia and Lithuania, to disconnect from the Russia-controlled frequency area called BRELL in February 2025. Thus, the implementation of energy storage solutions for “security purposes”.

Priit Lepasepp, CEO at Sunly, said: “Continuous technological development is essential if we are to increase security and stability in the energy market in the region. Our goal is to integrate storage solutions into as many solar and wind parks as possible. With the in-house team of storage and electricity trading, we are constantly looking for new ways to make prices for end-consumers less volatile”.

Sunly currently has 294MW of operational solar PV capacity.