Largest onshore wind farm in Baltics gets €79.5m boost

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is providing a €79.5 million ($93 million) loan to utility Ignitis Group to support the implementation of the Kelmė wind farm.

The loan forms part of a €318 million ($370 million) financing package that also includes funding from the European Investment Bank, Swedbank and Nordic Investment Bank.

The ERBD says that the 314MW project is the largest onshore wind farm in the Baltics. It will be located in Kelmė, in western Lithuania and once fully operational, will provide enough power for 250,000 households.

Ignitis states that, when Kelmė is operating at maximum capacity, each 7MW wind turbine could power a single household for an entire day with one revolution.

These will be the largest and most powerful wind turbines the company has ever installed, it says.

The project will help contribute to Ignitis’s goal of achieving up to 5GW of installed clean energy capacity by 2030 and will also support the country's decarbonisation journey and boost energy independence.

Growing wind sector

According to Ignitis Group, Lithuania's renewable energy sector has been growing very rapidly in recent years, with new wind farms the main contributor to the growth.

In 2024, wind farms generated 1.38 times more electricity compared to 2023, which shows a major shift away from fossil fuels.

In 2024, 513MW of new wind turbines were installed in country and currently, the total wind farm capacity in Lithuania amounts to around 1,740MW. This is nearly three times higher compared to Latvia and Estonia combined, states Ignitis.

Energy priorities

Lithuania disconnected from the Russian grid in February 2025 together with its neighbours Latvia and Estonia, and synchronised with the Continental European Synchronous Area.

Prior to that, but even more so since, the country is focused on developing large scale wind and solar projects, as well as battery storage to support renewables penetration.

Renewable energy will help the country improve security of domestic supply and can keep electricity prices lower.

Have you read?
Europe Energy Briefs: Cross-border interconnections to underpin energy union 
Lithuania’s balancing market gets its first solar park participant 

Illustrating this point is information provided by Lithuanian electricity transmission system operator, Litgrid. On 6 March, between 1 and 2 pm, instantaneous generation from solar and wind farms exceeded 1.4GW and the electricity prices decreased. At 1 PM, prices dropped to to 0.59 EUR/MWh, and at 2 PM to 0.27 EUR/MWh.

Besides greener, more afordable electricity, energy independence is also essential and considered an important pillar for national security. This is outlined in the National Energy Independence Strategy, which according to and International Energy Agency (IEA) report, prioritises energy independence, emissions reductions, and decreasing system cost. 

The strategy lays out a roadmap to use surplus renewable electricity to develop hydrogen and its derivatives, such as green synthetic fuels, methanol and ammonia.

Furthermore, states the IEA, the the Strategy aims to turn the large electricity import dependency to net exports by 2030. And by 2050, the government aims to be fully energy independent, and an exporter of electricity, as well as of hydrogen and its derivatives.