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The government program plans to increase the capacity of wind power plants in Lithuania from 548 megawatts (MW) last year to 1,200 MW in 2025.
However, for the development of this sector, some institutions are constantly putting their feet in the wheels. In addition, officials from the Ministry of the Environment prepared a draft Ministerial Order on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) such that everyone started biting their hair, because if approved, the construction of wind farms would be suspended throughout Lithuania.
The whole country, a reserve?
In principle, everyone from environmentalists to wind energy entrepreneurs agrees that the EIA process for such power plants should be clearer, taking into account environmental requirements.
However, the developers of this project have come up with the idea of blaming such fuses, which even contradict current legislation.
For example, Protected Areas or Special Land Use Laws already provide for specific areas where wind farms cannot be located.
However, according to the prepared project, they could not be built within 10 kilometers of, for example, cognitive trails or other objects in the landscape, nor within 5 kilometers of observation towers, fortunes, mounds.
According to the letter to the Ministry of Environment signed by the General Director of the Lithuanian Business Confederation Eglė Radišauskienė, this project would establish a restriction on the construction of wind power plants even in those places that are not included in the list of protected areas.
The project developers did not bother to calculate whether the approval of such recommendations would make room for wind power plants in Lithuania. This was done by entrepreneurs: according to them, power plants could grow in only 2 percent of the country’s territory.
Can ruin all plans
The regulation proposed in the preliminary draft goes beyond the scope of the “recommendations” and provides mandatory restrictions on economic activity, which can only be established by law.
The municipalities do not agree with the assessment that all visitor centers or observation towers are landscape values.
This provision would mean that after the installation of a new observation tower or visitor center in the surrounding areas, wind energy projects could no longer develop automatically. ”Roma Žakaitienė, Director of the Association of Lithuanian Municipalities, also sent her comments. .
Even for the Ministry of Energy, it was not clear whether the requirements established in the EIA recommendations are mandatory or of an advisory nature.
“If the requirements for the environmental impact assessment of wind power plants are not clear, proportionate and feasible, it is likely that this could have a significant impact on the achievement of the planned objectives in the renewable energy sector,” said Daiva Garbaliauskaitė , Deputy Minister of Energy.
According to Martynas Nagevičius, director of the Lithuanian Confederation of Renewable Energy Sources, our country has very good conditions for the development of wind energy, because the landscape is smooth, the wind speed is high and the population density is relatively low.
However, we are still far behind many countries. For example, there was 8.4 kilowatts (kW) of installed wind power capacity per square kilometer in the country at the end of last year, compared to the EU average of 40.4 kW. Not to mention Germany with 153.7 kW, the Netherlands (101.3 kW) or Denmark (100.6 kW).
“Any case in which a public authority requires a complete EIA and lasts more than a year before the conclusion that there is no environmental impact is considered an error on the part of that authority.
It is natural to make mistakes, but we must strive to keep them as little as possible, because in this case it means slower reduction in climate change and slower progress towards energy independence and economic prosperity for Lithuania, ”said M. Nagevičius.
Saw the lands of corruption
On the other hand, EIA recommendations are full of subjective concepts. For example, the impact on tangible assets, property value, infrastructure should be assessed, but the criteria are not even mentioned.
The same applies to the effects on wildlife if the evaluating body decides that it may be negative. However, what is being judged remains unclear. “Impact on land or soil” also sounds abstract, as there are no objective indicators on how to determine it.
As a result, the Njord Law Firm, which represents two wind farm companies, has submitted comments to the Ministry of the Environment that the project is not only not in line with legislative principles, but also poses an anti-corruption threat.
“Such legal uncertainty increases the risk of subjective interpretation and application of the project’s rules, which is a direct threat to allegations of corruption against commercial entities,” the lawyer said in a letter.
The Minister does not intend to sign
After receiving criticism from the authorities, the Ministry of the Environment decided to resign. As the Minister of the Environment, S. Gentvilas, told Lietuvos Rytas, a document like the one you have now cannot be accepted.
“This is a brake on wind energy, not an expansion that the Government seeks. The areas where wind farms cannot really be built must be clearly defined.
However, with the current option, its development could be completely unnecessarily banned in many places. We must take environmental aspects into account and we certainly will. However, the development of wind power cannot really be prevented, “said the minister.
It is not clear why, for almost a year, some officials have had to work in vain to draft a law that is not suitable for anyone and even threatens the interests of the state.
