Estonian state-owned energy group Enefit signed a contract with the major Lithuanian retail chain Norfa for the installation of 250 public charging stations in the southernmost Baltic country.
In total, 500 new charging points will be established in 107 different parking areas across the retailer’s commercial network until the end of 2024, with capacities ranging at 22-320 kilowatts (kW), Eesti Energia, operating under the Enefit brand, says.
“The new charging points will be located across Lithuania, available at Norfa shopping centers in both major and smaller cities from Vilnius to Klaipeda,” said regional development manager Tomas Zilionis. “In addition, the regions are not divided into important and less important ones; the installation of these stations will take place simultaneously throughout the country.”
According to Zilionis, at least two charging stations will be installed in each shopping center’s parking area, at least one of which will be for fast charging.
“All the charging stations will be able to charge two cars at the same time, which means that four electric cars can be charged at the same time at each charging point,” he added.
The entire project will be fully financed by Enefit, which is investing more than EUR 10 million over the next two years in the development of electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure in Lithuania.
“The deployment of fast and ultra-fast chargers is possible in part thanks to various subsidies,” acknowledged Aljona Jakovleva, commercial manager at Enefit Volt. “One of these is the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) support we received last year and this year.”
As Enefit continues a major expansion of its EV charging network, Enefit Volt’s public charging network currently includes nearly 200 charging points across Estonia, and over the next year the company will open its first charging stations in Latvia and Lithuania, thus establishing its foothold throughout the Baltic States.
“We are moving step by step to create a cohesive charging network across all home markets,” Jakovleva explained. “This is driven by the desire to increase user confidence in the widespread availability of chargers – not only in Estonian cities and on Estonian roads, but also in neighboring countries.”
The first 250 chargers will be installed until the end of 2024. In total, the Estonian state-owned company plans to install more than 1,000 EV charging stations across Lithuania until 2026. Similar development projects are likewise underway in Latvia and Poland. (ERR/Business World Magazine)
