Wind power for Lithuanian waters

VILNIUS- The construction of five wind energy parks is set to be launched inLithuania's Baltic Sea waters in about seven years, reports the Klaipeda regionaldaily paper.

However, apart from the approval of four seaside local authorities, theproject needs the green light from environmentalists.

Earlier this week, the territorial planning committee of the local authorityof Klaipeda approved theenvironmental impact assessment program.

The five wind power parks would be based about twenty kilometers from theshore.

The turbines would be hardly visible from land and would not spoil the view,one of project authors told the daily.

The wind energy park, closest to Klaipeda,would be located some 17-25 kilometers from the shore.

However, the park close to Neringa would be based at a distance of just 4-16kilometers from the shore, which may draw criticism from heritage preservers.

After getting all approvals, the builders face a challenge of transmittingthe electricity to consumers.

They will have to choose either to connect to land grids, the power linkbetween Lithuaniaand Sweden orbuild new links between the Baltic countries, which would connect all wind powerparks.