The Challenge:

Energy is part of our daily lives, we use it to cook our meals, heat or cool our homes and drive ourselves from one place to another yet we know very little about it, how it is produced, stored and transported, is it green or fossil, what impact it leaves on the environment and climate, what it means to our economy. 

New technologies in the energy sector, particularly in green energy and innovations are often treated as buzzwords and quite often people know very little about them but have explicit opinions.

Port of Ventspils is proactively working towards the green transition which involves widespread adaptation of renewable energy, and decarbonization of the port’s activities attracting business opportunities for alternative fuels such as green hydrogen, ammonia and e-fuel production, storage and transhipment. 

Proverb says, «It takes a village to raise a child», the same applies to the energy transition, it is important to raise awareness and knowledge about green energy and e-fuels among the local stakeholders, whether these are regular citizens, municipalities, state authorities or businesses and port operators so they can form the objective opinions about the opportunities and benefits these technologies can bring for their lives or businesses. 

The teams task is to develop an innovative solution(-s), digital or organizational, to effectively communicate, engage and mobilize public opinion in Ventspils and wider region to «bring all on board».

Context of the Problem:

One of the European Union agencies – Clean Hydrogen Joint Undertaking conducted a Europe-wide (EU 27) survey about the Awareness of Hydrogen Technologies in 2022. The results of the survey demonstrated that respondents from Latvia were least concerned about the air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and water scarcity, had the least willingness to pay for cleaner energy, had the least knowledge about hydrogen’s role in green energy and had a lesser willingness to learn more about the hydrogen technologies than rest of Europeans. Development of the renewable energy generation (solar, wind), its transmission and green energy carriers (H2, ammonia, e-fuels) production, storage and transportation projects will require a dialogue with many stakeholders in forms of the impact on environment assessments, public hearings, etc. Raising awareness and knowledge about these technologies therefore is a vital element for greater acceptance.

About Ventspils Freeport Authority:

The Freeport of Ventspils is an industrial, transport and transit center of international significance in Latvia and the Baltic Sea region. The advantages of an ice-free deep-water port, a diverse range of transport connections and logistics opportunities make us easily accessible in the EU, the CIS and towards the direction of Central Asia. Ventspils offers beneficial terms of cooperation, customized manufacturing infrastructure and provision of strategic resources, rich intellectual capital, scientific and educational potential, as well as an attractive city environment on the coast of the Baltic Sea.

• Area ~2450 ha
• Non-freezing, deep-water harbour (17 m)
• Ro-Ro cargo centre of Latvia
• Main commodities: oil products, coal, timber, metals, mineral fertilizers, food etc.
• Available area for industrial development ~500 ha
• Total number of companies in the port area 118, out of which 34 are special economic zone companies and 14 port terminals.