Lithuania May Partly Replace Nuclear Power With Wind, Lobby Says

By Torsten Fagerholm - Nov 20, 2012 2:22 PM GMT+0530

An expansion of wind power in Lithuania may help the country to improve its energy independence and offset a shortfall caused by closure of nuclear capacity.

Installed wind power capacity is likely double to 500 megawatts by 2015, five years ahead of schedule, paving the way for energy independence without nuclear power, according to Lithuania’s wind energy association.

Last month, more than 60 percent of voters in a non-binding referendum rejected construction of a nuclear reactor that’s intended to replace the Ignalina atomic plant. Closing that plant under an agreement that followed accession to the European Union triggered an energy deficit in 2009, Ignalina having previously provided as much as 85 percent of Lithuania’s power.