Energy, Energy Market, EU – Baltic States, Forum, Latvia
International Internet Magazine. Baltic States news & analytics
Saturday, 20.04.2024, 03:46
The biggest ever international energy conference to be held in Latvia will take place at the end of September
“We are honoured that
this major ERRA conference is returning to the Baltics and this time – to
Latvia! Every year, it is devoted to the region in which it is taking place.
Accordingly, this year’s conference will focus on the Baltics and Nordic
countries, discussing closer integration within the power and natural gas
market in this region. What challenges do we see for industries and regulators
in the immediate future? What will be the role of natural gas during the next
few decades? What is the current state of Baltic energy market and what developments
can we anticipate in future? These and many other issues will be discussed at
the conference,” explains PUC Chairman and ERRA Presidium Member Rolands Irklis.
The morning of Monday
23 September will be devoted to a discussion about the Baltic-Nordic electricity
and natural gas market. Two presentation sections will be followed by panel
discussions in which the main speakers will be from the Baltic and Nordic
countries. In the section of the programme featuring presentations on the
natural gas market, a presentation will also be given by Rolands Irklis. In
turn, the second half of the day’s programme will focus on energy transition
and decentralisation. Experts from Georgia, United Kingdom, Poland, Italy and
the USA will discuss challenges in regulating energy consumer communities, the
role of energy regulators in promoting electromobility and cyber security
within the energy sector. The day will conclude with a panel discussion about
the decentralisation of the energy sector with speakers representing Austria,
Russia, France, Italy and Cameroon.
In the morning of
Tuesday 24 September, the subject of energy transition and decentralisation
will be examined further. Experts from Northern Macedonia, Hungary, Nigeria and
Oman will discuss the challenges of integrating additional renewable resources in
the power systems, the Mini-Grid framework in Nigeria and empowering consumers through innovative rooftop
business models in Oman. Meanwhile,
experts from USA, Finland, Latvia and Turkey will take part in a panel
discussion about the impact of energy transition on the future power systems.
The concluding
session will be devoted to the role of natural gas in the process of the transition
of energy. Experts from Germany, Brussels and Poland will offer their insights
into reducing the costs of decarbonising the energy system through sector
coupling, and the current and future liquefied natural
gas development dynamics. Afterwards, delegates
from Germany, Georgia, Hungary, USA and Turkey will share their experiences
during the closing panel discussion.
More detailed
information about the conference, its speakers and programme, as well as
registration is available on the ERRA homepage: http://ejuz.lv/22ht.
The Energy Regulators Regional
Association (ERRA) is an inter-institutional non-profit organisation, which was
officially registered in 2001. Its members and associated members are
regulators from 39 countries from various regions of the world. Its shared goal
is to improve energy regulation and to make progress as stable, effective
energy regulators with the necessary autonomy and authority to make positive
change. ERRA is widely seen as an example of an extremely successful regional
association and is recognized as an important international institution as it
covers Europe, Asia, Africa, Middle East, North and South America.
The PUC is one of the founders of this organisation and is an active participant in its permanent work groups. Since 2016, the PUC Chairman has been a member of the ERRA Presidium.
The
Public Utilities Commission (PUC) of Latvia is institutionally and functionally
independent, full-fledged, autonomous body governed by public law which carries
out regulation of public services in energy, electronic communications, postal
services, water management and waste disposal sectors in accordance with the
law “On Regulators of Public Utilities” and special legal acts of the regulated
sectors.
The PUC
independently performs the functions transferred by law and within its
competence independently adopts decisions and issues administrative acts which
are binding to specific providers and users of public services.
The PUC
shall independently and reliably ensure the balancing of the interests of
service users and providers and further the development of public services.