Eight months at the wind parks: a new production record in sight

The amount of electricity produced by the wind parks operating in Lithuania has jumped by almost a tenth during the first eight months of the year. About 40 percent of the country’s electricity production is being generated by just three wind parks.

In January-August 2020, Lithuania’s wind parks produced 0.96 TWh of electricity, which represents almost 70 percent of the total result from the previous year. In August, the amount of electricity generated by the wind power plants was 7 percent lower than last year; however, the total production over eight months increased by almost 10 percent compared to 2019. 

The cold period of the year still lies ahead, when wind speeds are typically 1-2 m/s higher than in the summer. For this reason, it is possible to forecast that the total yearly amount of electricity that will be produced may exceed the record result achieved last year of 1.45 TWh. 

By comparing the results from the first eight months of this year with the corresponding period in 2019, it is clear that three leaders stand out from the rest. Like last year, most of the electricity was generated by the Mažeikiai, Juknaičiai/Usėnai and Strepeikiai wind parks. These parks are respectively owned by the IKEA Group, Ingka Investments Lithuania (Pamario jėgainių energija), Enefit Wind (Šilutės vėjo projektai) and Amberwind. 

So far this year, the amount of electricity generated by the parks owned by these companies amounts to around 40 percent of the total electricity produced in the country’s wind parks. These three wind parks have maintained relatively stable results, as their contribution reached 41.5 percent during the same period last year. 

There are currently 23 wind parks operating in Lithuania with a combined capacity of 480 MW. Together with the individual wind turbines, there is a total of 534 MW of wind power installed.