Funding: Estonia - Latvia Programme, European Union

Project period: 01.11.2010.- 30.10.2012.

Project objectives

The project objectives are to provide decision makers and potential developers of wind parks in the Gulf of Riga with reliable marine wind information from high resolution remote sensing data, coastal wind measurements and ensemble of Regional Climate models. Wind fields will be complemented with the information on habitat area for seals and wintering, migrating and breeding birds. Local people and authorities will be involved in the active process of selection of suitable areas for wind parks through mapping their attitude and considering the requirements of the areas for renewable energy.

Current situation

Due to the opening of the energy market in EU the energy business will become international by nature. The use of renewable energy sources are encouraged by EU authorities. Wind energy has a high potential in the Gulf of Riga region - Latvia and Estonia would benefit from the wind parks in this territory. The Gulf of Riga is common habitat area for marine mammals and birds, and their habitats should be considered in planning of wind parks. The precise information about ice conditions is also necessary, since the formation and movement of ice may endanger the building and exploitation processes of the wind parks. The human factor is also very important, since the inhabitants worry about possible diminishing of living conditions due to wind park construction nearby.

Overall, the decisions about exploitation of the wind energy on the both sides of the Gulf of Riga should be harmonized.

Project partners

Project partners are research institutions in Estonia and Latvia. The partnership helps to ensure coordinated activities in the territory of Riga Gulf, joining and mutually complementing the competences of the institutions and experts involved.

Project leadership:  Marine Systems Institute at Tallinn University of Technology.

Project partners:

University of Tartu

Estonian University of Life Sciences

University of Latvia

Latvian Institute of Aquatic Ecology

Latvian Fund for Nature

Estonian Fund for Nature

Activities

All the activities are to be implemented in the Gulf of Riga area. Processing of Earth Observation data is planned – the remote sensing wind and ice imagery will take place, and coastal weather station data for the retrieval of dynamic marine and coastal wind and ice maps since 2001 until 2012 will be analysed.

Complementation of marine wind fields with model winds by ensemble of climate models until 2100.

Areal counting of migrating and wintering birds and breeding seals will take place in 2011/12. Harmonization of collected and historical data since 2001 for production of dynamic maps of different bird and seal populations will be accomplished.

Preparing, distributing and analyzing questionnaires to get overview of people’s reaction to the development of offshore and coastal wind parks. Analyses of strategic and thematic plans for renewable energy consumption from counties around the Gulf of Riga will be completed. The decision making tool based on the spatial planning methods will be prepared.

It is planned to organize stakeholder and public forums.

Project results

The project aims directly at producing policy-relevant, scientifically based information on wind energy fields, the most affected key natural species populations and social reactions and economic benefits for the entire Gulf of Riga area.

The decision making tool based on the spatial planning methods on GIS environment will be developed that facilitates the common planning for exploitation of wind energy in the Gulf of Riga area.

Dynamic maps of wind energy, ice condition, migrating and wintering bird populations, seals since 2001 with projection to future climate will be produced.

Indicators for spatial planning of people’s attitude towards development of wind parks and for quantification of local plans of renewal energy consumption will be developed and integrated to decision making tool.

The outputs of the project contribute to the elaboration of policy relevant, environmental and socio-economic issues related to exploitation of renewable energy that have cross-border dimension.

More information about the project:

www.modlab.lv/GORWIND