United List Saeima faction MPs want to push through amendments to the law “On Land Privatization in Rural Areas” that would significantly restrict the placement of solar panels on agricultural land. Such a draft law has been submitted to the Saeima Presidium.
According to the intention of the bill’s author, Edgars Putra, the installation of solar panels on agricultural land should be prohibited if its quality assessment is higher than 30 points and the solar panels would occupy an area of more than five hectares, except in cases where the solar panels will be used only for self-consumption.
Currently in Latvia agricultural land amounts to approximately 1.97 million hectares and, according to E. Putra, the ban would apply to about 60% of agricultural land.
In a conversation with Inc. E. Putra says that he came forward with this initiative already a year and a half ago, when the law “On Land Privatization in Rural Areas” was open for amendments the previous time. At that time, the Ministry of Agriculture called for these proposals not to be taken further, arguing that everything would be included in the open Land Management Law, but this has not been done despite the fact that, according to the initial plans, the Land Management Law was supposed to reach the Saeima on 1 December 2024. The draft law has not yet even been coordinated between the ministries.
E. Putra points out that during this time the installation of solar panels has been started in several places on agricultural land that could otherwise be used for food production. “The most striking case is in Cīrava, where Latvenergo bought an already prepared project from private owners, and solar panels will be installed on more than 100 hectares of agricultural land. Moreover, Cīrava has some of the highest-quality agricultural land in South Kurzeme,” says E. Putra. He also notes that similar restrictions have already been introduced since 2024, for example, in Italy. However, there the restrictions do not apply to such solar parks where livestock can graze under the solar panels.
The current regulation in the law “On Land Privatization in Rural Areas” and related regulatory acts does not sufficiently restrict such use of land, allowing foreign investors and large companies to take over productive areas that could be used for food production. This is particularly relevant in the context of geopolitical instability, where food is becoming a matter of national security. The aim of the draft law is to balance the development of renewable energy with the priority of agriculture by promoting the placement of solar panels on lower-value land, state the MPs who submitted the draft law.
Originally published at https://inc-baltics.com/velas-ierobezot-saules-panelus-uz-lauksaimniecibas-zemes/
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