The new park being built near the village of Matīši, in northern Latvia, will have a capacity of 54 megawatts, enough to supply 15,000 households.

In addition to Sunly's own equity, the €100 million investment has been financed by bond investors and banks from several countries. Sunly will invest a total of €200 million in Latvia in several different parks.

"Solar, wind and batteries together ensure that electricity is always available. The question is how large the capacity will be. That is what interests buyers the most, especially large grid companies. They want to buy green electricity in reliable quantities," said Toms Naburgs, head of Sunly Latvia and chairman of the Latvian Wind Energy Association.

Sunly founder and chairman of the board Priit Lepasepp explained why hybrid energy is important.

"If at first we use the grid connection with solar parks only 15 percent of the time, then battery storage and the wind park ensure that this connection point supplies electricity to the grid for more than 50 percent of the hours in a year. That is a very significant amount. Let me remind you that Auvere [Power Plant] cannot operate that much," he said.

The batteries are being purchased from Rolls-Royce Power Systems and are intended for both the Latvian parks and a park in Estonia's Risti.

"These batteries last 18 years and complete almost two cycles every day, meaning they charge up fully and discharge again. So the technology has advanced at an incredible pace," Lepasepp said.

Although the Baltic states share a common energy supply system, making large investments in Latvia is easier, the evening news show "Aktuaalne kaamera" reported.

This is because the grid operator has more available connection capacity, the state and local governments support foreign investment, and local residents are more understanding of energy projects. For example, not a single permit for the construction of the giant Matīši park was challenged.

"We are making exactly the same amount of investment in Risti as we are making at the four sites in Latvia. There is a friendly competition going on, with Latvia taking the lead for now, but Estonia will catch up," said Lepasepp.

It is projected that within four years, the Baltic states will be able to produce all the electricity they need themselves.

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