In Riga—led by Rīgas Tehniskā Universitāte—REPOWER REGIONS conducted a Hot and Cold Mapping Study and organised a pivotal site visit to Rīgas Siltums, the city’s main district heating provider. Rīgas Siltums supplies a significant part of Riga’s heat demand and operates one of the largest heating networks in Eastern Europe.
This collaboration cemented a powerful institutional link: university researchers, municipal policymakers, and operators of the heating plant jointly gained clarity on where sustainable, low-carbon heating investments could deliver the greatest environmental and energy-security payoff. It also laid the groundwork for integrating academic insight into real-world infrastructure planning.
By spotlighting how Riga’s heating system could shift from fossil fuels—especially imported Russian gas—to local biomass, electrification, and innovative technologies such as Latvia’s firt Electrode water heating boiler, the partnership sends a strong message of energy sovereignty. This shift not only reduces costs and emissions but symbolically supports Ukraine in its fight by weakening Europe’s dependency on Russian energy revenues.
