Alstra Energy has signed an operation and maintenance (O&M) agreement with Byhmgard AB for two battery energy storage systems (BESS) in Riga, Latvia. It is Alstra’s first assignment in the Baltics.

The two plants, SW Power and SW Battery, are located at separate sites in Riga and have secured grid connections and permits. Each is a two-hour system of 14.99 MW and about 30 MWh. They are built from modular, liquid-cooled lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery containers and can later be extended to four hours on the same grid connection. The Latvian contractor LEC (Latvijas Energoceltnieks) will build both plants on a fixed-price turnkey basis, and commercial operation is targeted for Q2 2027.

Once the plants are running, Alstra Energy will monitor them around the clock and carry out preventive and corrective maintenance, with guaranteed availability. Monitoring will be done from Alstra’s Operations Center in Hultsfred, Sweden, where more than 400 MW of solar and battery plants are already monitored and analysed.

The plants will trade on the Nord Pool day-ahead and intraday markets and deliver frequency reserves (FCR, aFRR and mFRR) to the Latvian transmission system operator. The Baltic states synchronised with the continental European grid in February 2025, and since then the region has run its own balancing market. That market has a structural need for fast, flexible capacity.

“We are pleased with the confidence Byhmgard has placed in us. The Baltics are a new market for us, but we come with several years of experience of operating solar and battery plants in Sweden from our Operations Center in Hultsfred, where we have built up our ability to monitor and analyse plant performance. The Baltic countries are now expanding their grids with renewable energy, and battery storage will be an important part of that development. We look forward to a long-term cooperation with Byhmgard,” says Marie Strannegård, CEO of Alstra Energy.

Read Byhmgard’s press release here