Pumped-Storage Hydropower Plants as Enablers for Transition to Circular Economy in Energy Sector: A Case of Latvia

Nowadays the planet is facing emerging global issues related to climate change, pollution, deforestation, desertification and the number of challenges is expected to grow as the global population is forecasted to reach 10 billion margin by 2050. A concept of circular economy can have a positive contribution to the current development trajectories. In order to implement it, preferably all the energy should be produced by using renewable energy sources, but there has always been a challenge for storage of renewable energy. Therefore, considering technical and economical parameters, construction options for a pumped storage hydropower plant in Latvia have been evaluated using the desk research methodology. Results have shown that Daugavpils PSHP is the most attractive project from the technological point of view, but it requires the greatest amount of investment and construction of Daugavpils HPP. At present all the construction options for PSHP in Latvia are economically disadvantageous and would not be viable without co-financing from European or national funds. Considering both technical and economical parameters, the authors emphasise Plavinas PSHP construction option.