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The European Commission has approved a budget of EUR 180 million. a State aid scheme to support electricity storage facilities – the state will support up to 30% of the investment costs. This opens the way for the growth of new electricity storage capacity, which will ensure the smooth integration of electricity production from renewable sources into the system, will contribute to the development of a competitive balancing market and will significantly increase the energy security of both the national and the Baltic region.
"Solar and wind energy volumes have quadrupled over four years and continue to grow rapidly, so it is necessary to secure appropriate balancing solutions for the electricity system that would make it technically possible to both increase and decrease the production and consumption of electricity. State support for investments in batteries will ensure the sustainable and rapid development of renewable energy, favorable electricity prices for consumers and energy independence," says Energy Minister Dainius Kreivys.
Under the scheme, the aid will be granted to legal entities in the form of direct grants to support the installation of at least 1200 MWh of new electricity storage capacity. The state will support all electricity storage technologies directly connected to the transmission network or power plants connected to the power transmission networks at the same point. Projects will be selected through a competitive tendering procedure with a maximum aid intensity of 30% of the relevant investment costs.
Energy storage is essential to ensure the necessary flexibility, stability and reliability of the entire electricity system. Energy storage technologies are diverse and have different characteristics, so they are suitable for providing a large number of services to the energy system and contributing to the goals of decarbonization. In particular, energy storage can contribute to the integration of renewable energy, electrification of the economy and the reduction of carbon emissions from other sectors of the economy.
The volume of solar and wind energy in Lithuania is growing rapidly and currently amounts to almost 3.5 GW, of which the sun – 1.95 GW, wind - 1.54 GW. The National Energy Independence Strategy foresees that by 2030, the installed solar energy capacity will reach 4.1 GW, and the wind capacity can reach 5.9 GW, taking into account both onshore and offshore power plants. The amount of electricity generated by wind and solar power plants depends to a large extent on climatic conditions, electricity production is not even, so the power system will have to have significantly higher capacity for balancing and reserve capacity than was customary with fossil fuels. Measures and technologies to ensure flexible energy demand will also have to be put in place to create additional demand for electricity when it is low in excess production and which reduce consumption when electricity is scarce and its price is high. Accordingly, in 2030. Lithuania will need up to 1.5 GW of electricity storage capacity.
