Most business in Latvia, particularly those in the manufacturing sector, are looking for ways to prepare for winter and avoid shutting down operations. The availability and price of natural gas and electricity have the biggest influence over businesses, as reported by Altum.
For Latvian businesses the main problem when it comes to energy resources is not just their price, but also their availability, as multiple participants of Altum’s organised event On business challenges and practical assistance in the context of energy resources and geopolitics crisis said.
According to Altum board chairman Reinis Bērziņš, the financial institution is prepared to provide aid to businesses by offering programmes to assist with investments into expansion of energy efficiency.
It is planned to launch a support programme for Latvian businesses operations of which have been affected by the consequences of Russian-Ukrainian war and related sanctions.
According to a survey by Altum among Latvian businesses, the biggest influence comes from prices of energy resources. The drop of economic activity on Latvia’s biggest export markets and Latvia’s domestic market also has a large effect.
It is also concluded that companies that have performed energy audits and certain energy efficiency improvements are more optimistic about the future. Prices of energy resources have an effect on 70% of businesses, and it is clear it will serve as motivation for modernisation of businesses so they can avoid similar shocks in the future.
In the context of energy efficiency, intensity varies between sectors. For example, 67% of the public sector has set aside money for energy efficiency, whereas in the manufacturing sector it reaches 92%.
Only 22% of businesses in the transport sector and 25% in the accommodation and catering sector have taken measures for energy efficiency.
Altum believes this is largely related to Covid-19 crisis, when businesses had a shortage of free funds to invest and were forced to think only about survival.
As the president of Latvian Employers’ Confederation (LDDK) and fish processing company Karavela LLC Andris Bite mentioned during discussions, energy efficiency requires at least a five-year national strategy to let businesses adapt their individual strategies.
Considering the situation with energy efficiency tends to change rapidly, use of tactical solutions requires a flexible approach, as well as ability to quickly respond to worldwide developments.
The manager of Aj Power Roberts Samtiņš said several years ago energy efficiency was a topic only some companies actively thought about, adding that installation of solar panels was considered more or less exotic in Latvia.
«The state should help businesses make it through winter and become able to adapt their development strategies for new challenges in the future,» said Salmiņš.
According to him, the energy crisis has caused a great deal of interest from large companies. Implementation of all projects, however, is impeded by problems with supplies of different materials and management capacity of those projects.