In 2019, district heating operator Salaspils Siltums inaugurated a 21,672 m² solar field and a wood chip boiler, put up in the middle of the woods near the town of Salaspils, Latvia, to meet 90 % of the demand from the local district heating network.
Salaspils Siltums started planning the solar system after a neighbouring cogeneration plant was shut down. Ina Berzina-Veita, Managing Director of Salaspils Siltums, shared insights into the project’s inception at the moment of the inauguration, stating, “We embarked on this journey after attending the solar district heating conference in Billund, Denmark, in 2016, held under the H2020 Project SDHp2m. Our goal was clear: to reduce our carbon footprint and diminish reliance on fossil fuels.” Following a comprehensive feasibility study in January 2017, the utility successfully secured EU funding in February of the same year.
The EU’s Cohesion Fund has contributed EUR 2.73 million to the EUR 7.08 million invested in the solar field, the storage tank and the 3 MW biomass boiler.