Nordic Solar inaugurates Lithuania's largest solar park together with the country's energy policy leaders and the Danish ambassador

On Thursday 2 May, the Danish Ambassador to Lithuania, the country's Vice-Minister of Energy, the Vicemayor of the Moletai region and top representatives from Lithuania's energy authorities, together with Nordic Solar, cut the ribbon and thus open the company's solar park in Moletai, located about an hour north of the capital Vilnius. The solar park is the Danish energy company Nordic Solar's largest park to date, and also the largest solar park built in Lithuania.

The official opening marks Nordic Solar’s first major investment in Lithuania: a 100-MWp solar park in the Moletai region with the capacity to produce power equivalent to the annual consumption of approximately 28,000 European households. At the same time, the new large-scale solar park is an important step in the right direction for the Baltic country's goal of energy independence by 2050 and its national strategic focus on ensuring that, in the decades to come, an increasing share of its energy consumption will come from renewable energy. While renewable energy accounted for 30 per cent of Lithuania's total energy consumption in 2020, the country intends to increase this share to 45 per cent by 2030, reaching 80 per cent by 2050.

"With the investment in Lithuania, Nordic Solar is not only reaching one of its important milestones of having completed the largest development and construction project of the company so far. We are also delighted to officially open Moletai solar park, Lithuania's largest solar park to date, together with representatives from the Lithuanian government, energy authorities, the mayor and the Danish ambassador. This project is an investment in Lithuania's energy infrastructure, and it came into existence through an effective collaboration between our countries for the common purpose of increasing renewable energy in the region. We are proud that our new solar park will contribute to the roll-out of solar energy and help support the political goals of the energy sector for the benefit of the climate," says Nikolaj Holtet Hoff, CEO of Nordic Solar.

Vice Minister of Energy Daiva Garbaliauskaitė, Vice Mayor of Molėtai District Municipality Vaida Saugūnienė and other representatives of Lithuanian energy institutions cut the cord together with the Danish Ambassador to Lithuania Grete Sillasen and Nikolaj Holtet Hoff.

Nordic Solar plans to construct two more solar parks in Lithuania

“This investment is not the only Nordic Solar investment in Lithuania. We have already started the construction phase for a 80 MWp plant, and we also plan to construct an even larger plant in 2026-27,” says Nikolaj Holtet Hoff.

The projects are also an important step towards energy independence.

"Lithuania has set ambitious energy goals - increasing national electricity generation to reach full energy independence. We are moving towards this goal and doing our best to have a sustainable and high added value energy industry. We are happy that after the start of electricity production in the Molėtai, Švenčionys and Jonava solar parks of "Nordic Solar", the national installed capacity of solar power plants will increase by as much as 9 percent, and renewable energy will be able to reach more than 200,000 households", said Deputy Minister of Energy Daiva Garbaliauskaitė. According to the vice-minister, bilateral cooperation between Danish and Lithuanian companies has great potential in the development of renewable energy projects.

Expressing gratitude to everyone contributing to the project

In addition to the political leaders of Lithuania, a wide range of business partners and representatives from the local region, including neighbours of the solar park, are also invited to attend the opening to which more than a hundred guests have been invited.

"It has been important for us, not least as guests in Lithuania, to involve the local community that helped make the establishment of the solar park possible as well as the business partners who have been heavily involved in the project from start to finish. We have worked together on this project of rolling out renewable energy. Without the support from everyone involved, it would not have been possible to reach this day on which the largest grid-connected solar park in Lithuania is producing electricity for the benefit of society. This is yet another positive step in the energy transition, and we would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for a successful collaboration," says Nikolaj Holtet Hoff.

Moletai solar park will promote biodiversity in the area

Moletai solar park has been established in a hilly area where there is ample opportunity for catching the powerful rays of the sun during the sunlight hours. The solar park has been built using Nordic Solar's proprietary, patented design for bifacial, or two-sided, solar panels which produce energy from both the front and back. In addition, a number of initiatives to promote biodiversity in the area have been included in the development of the solar park.

"When developing the Moletai solar park, we focused on combining solar energy production with a favourable environment for animals and plants in and around the solar park. Among other measures, we have added a number of exits around the park to ensure that large animals can easily escape the area. The height of the fence we have established around the solar park allows small mammals, reptiles and amphibians to pass through freely. A pond will provide water, food and shelter for these animals as well as for pollinators and insects, which will also benefit from wild flowers and piles of branches and rocks around the solar park once we finish implementing all initiatives," says Glenn Aagesen, COO of Nordic Solar.

Moletai solar park is already producing electricity

Molėtai solar park was connected to the grid in April in cooperation with the electricity transmission operator Litgrid, which manages and operates the country's electricity grid under the Ministry of Energy in Lithuania. Nordic Solar has, moreover, signed a balancing agreement with green energy solutions company Enefit, which is part of Eesti Energia group that will purchase 100 MW of the electricity generated by the solar park.

For more information, please contact:
Head of Communications & Marketing, Maria Jørvad, Nordic Solar A/S
Tel. +45 20 96 53 79, [email protected].