On Friday, 26th of April, a clean-up of the Skanuļi solar power plant took place, bringing together employees of “Sunly” and the park’s constructors – local company “Kvēle”, park neighbours and others. Around 79 plants and trees were planted along the park, bee-friendly grass seed was sown between the solar panels and litter was picked up around the park as part of the nationwide “Big Clean-up” movement.
A local gardener was involved in the planning of the plants and advised the Sunly team on the plants that would fit into the overall landscape, while bees living nearby were a key factor in the choice of grass seed and roses and other greens planted.
Otto Lodiņš, who lives next door to the solar park, is a beekeeper with 50 bee hives, produces honey soufflés with various natural ingredients and flavours including chamomile, verbena, ginger, etc., hosts tourist groups and other activities, so as a project developer Sunly was aware of the importance of the surrounding area when implementing the project. As Otto Lodiņš says: “It is a pleasure to come together not only to celebrate this event, which will enable the production of renewable energy that is green and environmentally friendly, but also to improve and enhance the surrounding environment. Last but not least, to pick up litter along the roadsides, thus reducing plastic pollution in nature.”
“Our team found it really rewarding to participate in this year’s ‘Lielā talka’ campaign, which has been actively collecting waste and improving the environment for more than 15 years. We chose to do it at an important place – a place where we have implemented one of our projects. At the same time, it allowed us to meaningfully celebrate the successful cooperation with the local Bauska municipality company “Kvēle”, the constructor of the park, and – to continue to build and strengthen relationships with local neighbours,” emphasises Toms Nāburgs, Sunly’s Country Manager for Latvia.
The park started generating electricity at the end of January, making it the first Sunly park in Latvia to reach this milestone. The estimated annual production is 4.3 GWh. Additionally, a second park in Bauska municipality has also commenced electricity production, and production will soon start in Jelgava and Madona municipalities.