Analysis and Improvement Facilities of Environmental Impact Assessment of Wind Energy Projects in Latvia

In Latvia, the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) procedure has been carried out for more than ten years and during these years impact assessments of many projects have been conducted. The existing system lacks criteria for evaluating impacts, only checklist is used from the methodology used in global practice, decisions are made based on professional assessment, the monitoring program is not developed an the scope of the measurement procedure is not fully used. Latvia is a country with limited resources. One of the areas where there are most problems in terms of impact on the environment is energy. Latvia still is one of the most import-dependent countries in Europe. Latvia has a great potential to change the current situation and become energy independent country, using renewable resources. One of the major renewable resources in the world today is wind, because it is relatively cheap in terms of technology and suitable for large-scale deployment. However, until now the wind energy potential in Latvian is not fully exploited. Wind power could provide 15% of the Latvian electricity. To achieve its objectives in terms of renewable energy use will require a much more active work and a wider scale in this area than ever before. There are no guidelines for specific areas of environmental impact assessment in Latvia. It will be necessary to build large-scale wind projects to achieve the goals of renewable energy share of final consumption. Impacts of such wind parks will be necessary to be fully evaluated. By developing clear guidelines how to make the environmental impact assessment process of wind parks would make this complex procedure much easier. The work concludes with the suggestions how to improve EIA procedure of the power energy projects impact assessment