Lithuanian residents will be the first in the world to rent a remote wind turbine
A smart energy solutions company Ignitis is offering a world-first online service, where residents can rent a part of a wind turbine. Until now, residents were only able to rent or acquire remote solar parks. The wind farm rental offer for private customers comes along with a new green energy platform introduced by Ignitis www.eparkai.lt.
The total installed capacity of Vėjo Galia wind farm, which is in Mažeikiai region, near Židikai, is 63 MW, with 4.5 MW to be leased to residents. Around 1,000 private customers in total will be able to rent up to 5 kW of capacity of the wind turbine to cover their electricity needs.
According to CEO of Ignitis Group Darius Maikštėnas, having in mind the unbelievably difficult and unpredictable situation in the energy market, we are constantly look for ways and solutions for our customers to become energy smart and reduce their costs.
“The energy sector is transforming and developing, we are moving towards the green deal at lightning speeds, therefore, investments into renewable energy keep growing in importance, they are becoming more reasonable and with faster returns. We are constantly looking for opportunities to engage customers to enter the energy market and start contributing towards its development rather than remaining observers. The fact that today we can offer them a chance to adopt wind energy and, in turn, increase their resilience to the instability of energy prices is the result of the efforts of our team at Ignitis, and we are very proud of this,” said Darius Maikštėnas.
A 4.5 MW wind turbine operating in the wind farm developed by a subsidiary of Ignitis Renewables will be available for renting, which means that anyone can rent a part of the turbine and use its generated electricity. The residents will pay a rental fee, which should be around 36 EUR/kW per month, to the wind turbine’s operator, and the electricity generated by the turbine will be converted into monetary value according to the terms and conditions agreed upon with the supplier and will be accumulated in the customer’s balance for electricity supply services. The customer will continue to buy the electricity he/she requires from the supplier based on the plan he/she has chosen, at the prices set out in the contract, and his/her electricity bill will be offset by the monetary value generated by the leased part of the wind turbine. At the end of the lease agreement or after the customer terminates the supply contract with the supplier, the value of the generated electricity will be paid to the customer according to the terms and conditions set out in the contract. And if the value of the electricity generated during the current month is greater than the consumption, the residual value will be used to offset future bills.
An ability to rent a part of a wind turbine serves as an alternative for those who currently do not have excess cash for investments into, for example, solar energy.
The wind farm is already under construction, several of the fourteen wind turbines in total are already erected. We are estimating that customers who rent a part of a turbine will start generating electricity in the second half of 2023.
