The reconstruction of quays at the Port of Klaipéda in Lithuania will lay the foundations for the smooth transportation of turbine hardware for national offshore wind projects.
Klaipėda Port Authority has announced the signing of contracts worth over €36 million for redevelopment works on its Smelté peninsula, so ensuring the smooth assembly, handling and movement of turbines.
UAB Tilsta is the firm that will be responsible for the reconstruction works at what was formerly an international ferry port, but is now part of a revamped infrastructure that should propel the port towards becoming a vital link in the national offshore wind supply chain.
Algis Latakas, CEO of Klaipéda State Seaport Authority, said: “The signing of the quays reconstruction contract signals the readiness of Klaipėda Port to take an active part in the development of the offshore wind energy. The reconstruction of quays is not only the infrastructure upgrade, but also a contribution of Klaipėda Port to the new generation energy projects. We are laying the foundations that will allow for offshore wind energy to become a significant part of the country’s energy sector.”
Though a welcome development for the port and related supply chain, the announcement comes days after Lithuania’s Ministry of Energy said it was temporarily suspending the tender process for an offshore farm in the Baltic. It said it wanted to ‘assess and review’ the process in order to ensure that the price of the electricity generated by the facility and eventually paid by the consumer would be ‘as small as possible’.
A natural hub for transports
Plans are already well established for Lithuania to have two offshore wind farms, with a combined capacity of 1.4 GW. Both would provide about half of the country’s current electricity demand, according to the ministry. All operations will be located off the west coast of the country which is otherwise landlocked, and so the Port of Klaipéda, the country’s only seaport, will be a natural hub for offshore component transports.
The reconstructed quays at Klaipéda will be used for assembly, handling, storage and transportation of wind turbines, with the work site will be designed for high loads of up to 40 t/m2. In total, just over 450 metres of quayside land will be reconstructed, with UAB tasked with carrying out dredging works to a depth of 12 metres, up from the current 10 metres. Finnish company Terramare Oy has also just completed dredging work down to 12 metres in front of the port’s adjoining Klasco quays.
It’s the latest development in a long-term project to develop offshore wind facilities off the Lithuanian coast, and comes almost three years after Klaipéda State Seaport and its cargo handling partner, Klaipéda Stevedoring Company KLASCO, signed an agreement underpinning the redevelopment of the port’s infrastructure required for the planned offshore wind farms.
Screening procedures for the environmental impact assessment of the potential project were finalised in November last year, and the national Environmental Protection Agency has since decided that these operations do not need the environmental impact assessment, essentially giving it the green light, notwithstanding the government’s recent tender announcement.
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