Minister of Climate and Energy Kaspars Melnis visited Daugavpils and the Upper Daugava region

On May 2 and 3, the Minister of Climate and Energy, Kaspars Melnis, visited Daugavpils and the Upper Daugava region on an extensive regional visit. During the visit, he looked at the planned construction of wind generators on the Latvian-Lithuanian border and the waste landfill of SIA “AADSO”, as well as met with students and pupils to engage in a joint dialogue about energy tomorrow.

During the meeting with the chairman of Daugavpils city municipality, Andrejas Elksnini, the main topic of conversation was the changes that have taken place in the city’s heat supply in recent years and the resulting energy independence: in three years, the amount of purchased heat energy decreased from 57% to 12% (in 2023). Another new boiler house will be commissioned in the near future and it is predicted that already in the next heating season 60-80% of heat energy will be produced from “green” and renewable fuel – wood chips and pellets. The minister was also very interested in the recently implemented public transport infrastructure development projects.

In the continuation of the visit, following up on the actualities of environmental policy issues, a discussion was held with the representatives of the municipality and SIA “AADSO” about waste processing and process optimization possibilities, taking into account the requirement to reduce the amount of waste to be stored. There was a lot of talk about the increase in the tax rate on natural resources. Commenting on this topic, Kaspars Melnis pointed out: “Of course we don’t want to raise bet after raise. At the same time, it is necessary to motivate people to sort and reduce the amount of waste. And we understand that this is one of the tools we can use to motivate people to think. There are colossally responsible people who sort through ideas and understanding, but there are people whom you can motivate, unfortunately, only by paying more for waste. Therefore, those who sort pay less, those who don’t sort pay more. And looking at the perspective, it’s hard to say, everything depends on how smoothly and well the sorting will go for us, how much the amount of waste buried in landfills will decrease, and then we’ll see. I hope that the tax rate will not go up again because we will reduce the amount of waste that goes to landfill.”

During the visit, the Minister of Climate and Energy Kaspars Melnis inspected the newly built biological waste processing plant at the “Cinīši” landfill. It was built by the company “AADSO” (52% of the capital shares belong to the municipality of Daugavpils) in order to produce electricity, heat and technical compost from biodegradable waste, which began to be separately collected in brown containers from the beginning of this year. Valerijs Kononovs, Deputy Chairman of Daugavpils City Councilcommenting on what was said during the meeting, emphasized: “Currently, there is a lot of talk about ecological and sustainable waste management, which includes reuse and responsible recycling. The country continues to follow the “green course”, and this is most welcome. All the benefits generated from bio-waste will reduce landfill maintenance costs and reduce the amount of landfill waste. The only thing I always emphasize is that the common citizen wants to see a reduction in the waste disposal fee if he starts sorting it. Unfortunately, it is not yet possible to achieve a fee reduction, as the tax rate on natural resources is raised every year. The minister believes that this way, with the annual increase of the tax rate, state policymakers motivate people to sort waste. Let’s continue to look for solutions to find a golden mean and for citizens to see real returns from responsible sorting as soon as possible”.

From this year On July 1, the Ministry of Climate and Energy (KEM) will take over environmental policy issues, including the issue of waste management, which is currently the responsibility of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development (VARAM).

During the visit, the minister introduced the representatives of the Daugavpils state city and the municipality of the Upper Daugava region to the state support programs for the purchase of various renewable energy equipment, as well as electric cars and hybrid cars for households and municipalities.

At the end of the regional visit, Minister Kaspars Melnis participated in the opening ceremony of the Kalkūnes solar power plant: this will be Latvia’s most ambitious solar power plant, which will supply at least 6,500 households in Daugavpils and its surroundings. The development of solar parks on the border of Latgale shows a clear signal of concern for energy security at home, says K. Melnis.

Information prepared by:
Daugavpils state city municipalities
Department of Public Relations