Latvia 2026 Growth Report: Green Hydrogen, Wind & Solar Roadmap
Latvia's 2026 Growth Report by the Ministry of Economics names hydrogen, onshore wind, solar and battery storage as core pillars of national competitiveness — a clear signal that the country's energy strategy is moving from ambition to execution. We unpack what the report means for the Latvian hydrogen ecosystem, ELWIND, industrial decarbonisation and the next wave of renewable investment.
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HydrogenLatvia
5/6/20265 min read
Latvia's 2026 Growth Report puts green hydrogen on the national agenda
The Ministry of Economics has just released the third edition of the Latvian Economic Growth Report — the policy document that frames the country's economic priorities for 2026–2028. For the Latvian hydrogen ecosystem, this edition matters more than the previous two: hydrogen now has its own line of action inside the chapter on energy resilience and competitiveness, sitting alongside onshore wind, solar, battery storage and the ELWIND offshore wind project.
That placement is significant. It tells investors, project developers and EU partners that hydrogen is no longer treated as a distant frontier technology in Latvia, but as part of the working toolkit for industrial competitiveness and energy independence. With Latvia's electricity demand projected to roughly double by 2050 — to around 18 TWh — and the energy sector already accounting for about 10% of GDP, the policy choices made in the next 24 months will shape who builds, who supplies and who exports.
Hydrogen earns a dedicated chapter — and a sharper focus
The report is candid about where the Latvian hydrogen sector stands today: early stage, no commercial-scale production yet, and demand still limited. What's new is the strategic clarity that follows that diagnosis. Rather than spreading thin across every possible application, the government is pointing the policy lens at four concrete priorities:
The first is using green hydrogen to decarbonise existing industry — the chemicals, fertiliser, metallurgy and heavy-process sectors where electrification alone won't be enough. The second is the development of hydrogen valleys in Latvian free port territories, building on the geographic advantage of having Riga, Ventspils and Liepāja sitting on a north-south European hydrogen corridor. The third is active participation in European Hydrogen Bank auctions, which have already directed close to €1.7 billion to renewable hydrogen projects across two rounds and continue to set the price benchmark for green H₂ in Europe. The fourth is a regulatory sandbox specifically designed for hydrogen technology testing — the kind of fit-for-purpose rulebook that has been a recurring ask from Latvian hydrogen ecosystem stakeholders for years.
The shift from "build a broad ecosystem" to "deliver focused pilots" is the right call. It mirrors the conclusion drawn from twenty years of hydrogen experience across Europe: countries that scaled successfully — Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark — did so by anchoring hydrogen to specific industrial demand and specific corridors, not by trying to do everything at once.
ELWIND quietly becomes a hydrogen project
The most important hydrogen sentence in the entire report is buried in the section on offshore wind. ELWIND — the joint Latvian-Estonian offshore wind project of 750–1,000 MW — is described as a strategic asset whose economic benefits go beyond electricity, with explicit mention of local component manufacturing, port development and hydrogen production.
That framing matters. ELWIND's tender is now scheduled for 2029 with operations targeted for 2035, and the geography on the Kurzeme coast between Liepāja and Ventspils was selected precisely because it combines wind resource, port infrastructure and proximity to potential offtakers. A gigawatt-scale offshore wind farm with a co-located electrolyser is the textbook recipe for cost-competitive renewable hydrogen, and Latvia is one of the few EU countries that can credibly run that play in the Baltic Sea basin. The report's instruction to develop at least one offshore-wind-servicing port and attract component manufacturers should be read as the industrial spine that will determine how much of ELWIND's value chain stays in Latvia.
Onshore wind, solar and storage — the technologies that work today
Alongside the long-horizon plays, the report is refreshingly direct about what works now. Citing 2026 McKinsey data, it acknowledges that offshore wind and green hydrogen are running behind their global 2030 targets, while onshore wind and solar are the only renewable technologies on track to hit those targets and are already cheaper than gas-fired generation in most markets.
The numbers underline that point. Solar electricity costs sit at €40–45/MWh and onshore wind at €50–55/MWh, and both are still falling. Latvenergo completed 15 solar parks across the Baltics in 2024 with a combined capacity of 115 MW, the 108.8 MW Laflora Energy wind farm in Jelgava district begins generation in summer 2026, the 147 MW Pienava Wind project comes online in 2027, and Latvenergo's first hybrid park in Priekule — combining solar, batteries and wind — is already operating. The corporate target of 2.3 GW of additional renewable capacity in the Baltics by 2030 is the anchor figure the rest of the energy transition is being built around.
The report also captures a moment that crystallises the whole argument: in March 2026, helped by solar generation and Daugava hydropower, Latvian wholesale electricity prices dipped below €15/MWh in several hours of the day — at the same time as Brent crude was trading at $107–112 a barrel and pump-price diesel crossed €2.00 per litre at some Latvian stations. Energy independence has stopped being a slogan; it is now a price difference.
Battery storage moves from optional to structural
Energy storage gets more practical attention in this report than in any previous edition. The plan to establish 5–7 energy-intensive industrial parks with guaranteed grid connection within 12 months, minimum 100 MW capacity each and integrated battery storage is genuinely consequential. It treats storage not as a bolt-on, but as part of the foreign-direct-investment value proposition — the kind of detail that determines whether a data centre, a battery factory or a green steel project chooses Latvia or somewhere else.
For the Latvian hydrogen ecosystem this matters in two ways. First, batteries and electrolysers are complementary, not competing — short-duration storage smooths daily variability, while hydrogen handles seasonal storage and hard-to-electrify end uses. Second, industrial parks with guaranteed power connections are exactly the kind of anchor demand that early-stage hydrogen projects need to reach final investment decision.
What it means for the Latvian hydrogen ecosystem
Three takeaways stand out for hydrogen developers, investors and Latvian hydrogen ecosystem stakeholders working on projects today.
The first is that the policy direction is now explicit. Hydrogen is recognised, named and given concrete actions in a top-tier government strategy document — that is the foundation EU funding bodies, banks and corporate offtakers look for before signing.
The second is that the action menu is realistic. Decarbonising existing industry, hydrogen valleys at the ports, European Hydrogen Bank participation and a regulatory sandbox are all delivery-ready workstreams, not aspirational targets. Pairing them with the existing project portfolio — BalticSeaH2, BSR HyAirport, H2Value, the Riga hydrogen refuelling station, the Jelgava hydrogen bus pilot, electrolyser and nano-coating manufacturers like Naco Technologies — gives Latvia a credibility story that few comparably sized economies can match.
The third is that the renewable build-out is the precondition for everything else. Without the 2.3 GW of new wind and solar that Latvenergo and private developers are working to deliver by 2030, and without ELWIND's gigawatt-scale offshore tranche after 2035, there is no green electricity to feed the electrolysers. The hydrogen story and the renewable electricity story are the same story.
The next 24 months
The growth report is a discussion document, not a final plan — and that is part of its usefulness. It opens the door for industry, science and the public sector to push for sharper hydrogen targets, faster permitting, and a regulatory sandbox that actually unlocks pilot deployment. The Latvian hydrogen ecosystem now has the policy backdrop it has been asking for. Turning that backdrop into a pipeline of bankable projects is the work of the next two years.
Source: SAEIMAS EKONOMIKAS DEBATES - EKONOMIKAS IZAUGSMES PRIORITĀTES 2026.-2028.gadam