Energy planning in Riga

Abstract

The city of Riga, being at the forefront of fighting climate change, is in the process of updating their energy planning document, the Riga Smart City Sustainable Energy Action Plan, for the planning period 2020–2030. As Riga surpassed the emission reduction target of the EU for 2030, there is an opportunity for a new ambitious goal and innovative actions to accomplishit. Considering the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) recommendation of not exceeding a world average temperature increase of 2° C, suitable targets for Riga are a reduction by 61% (2030) and 70% (2050), respectively, compared to 1990 levels. This paper presents pathways that contain measures that are complementary to the planned actions of Riga and focus on three thematic areas: green hydrogen, solar engagement, and modern transportation. The measures consist of successful European actions modified and applied to the characteristics of Riga. The production of green hydrogen is economically feasible for the city of Riga, achieving a Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) of 0.0395 EUR/kWh and a Levelized Cost of Hydrogen (LCOH) of 3.62 EUR/kgH2. While rooftop solar PV systems are an attractive option for the citizens of Riga if a feed-in tariff of 0.1 EUR/kWh is granted, the employment of solar thermal collectors is not advisable due to the high breakeven duration. Including citizens in renewable projects in the form of voucher return packages is a welcomed alternative loan scheme benefiting both the municipality and the citizens. Furthermore, the development of a microalgae carbon capture pilot project could leverage Riga’s role as an innovation hub. The creation of a fossil-free last-mile delivery zone in the city centre would tackle the challenge of reducing road emissions as electric cargo bicycles have the potential of decreasing emissions by around 99% per trip