As part of the Enercracy project, the Green Net Finland team headed for an inspiring study trip to the municipality of Dobele and the Zemgale region of Latvia. Together with our project partners from Estonia, Sweden and Poland, we were able to witness how close local cooperation and innovative solutions can accelerate the green transition in practice. The visit, organized in May 2026, showed that true regional resilience and self-sufficiency are built through wise local management of multiple resources – from renewable energy to clean water.
The program of our trip began on May 26 with a meeting of the project consortium at the atmospheric hotel-restaurant Zoltners. After the official part of the program, we switched to a more relaxed pace and took the bus to the Dobele Botanical Garden. We got to admire the stunning bloom of lilacs – the garden hides a staggering 240 different varieties of lilacs! Some of the species were exceptionally beautiful, and the scent wafting through the air was downright magical. (Photo collage 1)
Photo collage 1. Views of the lilac bloom in the Pēteris Upītis garden in Dobele.
Tērvete Farm: Circular economy and towards full energy self-sufficiency
The next morning brought the long-awaited professional highlight of the trip, as we headed out to tour the energy and biogas production facility at the Tērvete farm. The farm is a great example of modern, large-scale closed-loop agriculture, where agricultural waste and side streams are transformed into clean, valuable energy.
The main raw material of the plant is the slurry from the farm’s own approximately 2,000 cattle, in addition to which manure is imported from other farms in the surrounding area. Every day, the plant receives a staggering over 400,000 tons of slurry and dry biomass collected from the fields. The slurry runs in three fermenters for about a month, and the end result of the process is more than 4,000 tons of liquefied biogas (bio-LNG) per day. The efficiency is impressive: about one hundred tons of slurry can be processed into one ton of pure bio-LNG fuel! (Photo collage 2)
Currently, the finished bio-LNG product is sold entirely to the German market. A member of our visiting group asked an insightful question: Could the farm use this fuel in its own trucks instead of traditional diesel? The presenter replied frankly that switching to local use is not currently on the agenda, as the new investments in truck trailers required for heavy equipment would be too costly for farms.
However, local benefits have not been forgotten: the plant feeds biogas directly into the local grid, from which both the neighboring brewery and the surrounding residential area receive energy. In addition, the digestate generated in the process is utilized on the farm’s own fields as a valuable organic fertilizer.
The farm’s electrical structure is a story in itself: the area has a 2.5 MW solar power plant and its own 20 kV electricity grid. On the very day of our visit, there was a power outage on the farm for the best possible reason – they were commissioning a new 2 MW battery energy storage system!The battery, with a capacity of approximately two hours, will be used to manage the facility’s critical morning and evening power peaks. Today, the farm only has one connection point to the national grid, and our presenter proudly stated that soon the farm will be completely energy self-sufficient – dependence on the grid will soon be a thing of the past.
Photo collage 2. Views from a visit to the Tērvete farm.
Dobele Water Utility: Resilience from the land – and economic realities
The next destination of our trip nicely complemented the theme of self-sufficiency, as we visited the Dobele Water Utility. (Photo collage 3).
It was very interesting to see that in the Zemgale region, even in a small municipality like Dobele, has its own and independent water utility. The water utility in the region rely on clean groundwater, which they pump from their own wells. The quality of the groundwater is excellent, and the only treatment process required is mechanical iron removal.
Although the technical process is straightforward, energy costs and the demands of the green transition are causing the plant headaches. The water utility has recently installed a 30 kW solar power plant, and the produced electricity is used for the plant’s own needs. It currently covers about 20 % of the plant’s electricity consumption.
However, it was during this part of the visit that we heard the most striking comment of the trip. The water utility director was openly skeptical of the political pressure to install solar power systems on every property owned by the municipality. He did not mince words when describing such a mandate: the director called it outright “economic suicide.” This was a valuable reminder that while energy independence is a worthy goal, investments must be financially sustainable so that the cost of basic services, such as clean water, remains affordable for residents. (Photo collage 3)
Photo collage 3. Views from the visit to the Dobele Utility.
After the visit to the water utility, we packed our bags and had lunch at Zoltner. We thanked the hotel and restaurant staff for the excellent service.
Culture, happiness and rainbows
At the end of the study trip, we headed to the center of Dobele and its medieval castle, which has been restored for the past five years. We received a warm welcome from the mayor, who said with a twinkle in his eye that although Finns are the happiest in the world, the people of Dobele are the happiest in Latvia and live in the sunniest place in the country. The castle and the city center made a great impression on us. Just before leaving for Riga airport, I managed to capture a photo of the castle, with a rainbow sparkling in the fountain in front of it – a beautiful point for a successful trip. (Photo collage 4).
Photo collage 4. Views of Dobele Castle and the city center.
Blog author and photos: Evilina Vinonen | Green Net Finland (GNF) | Project Manager (GNF’s contribution to the Enercarcy project)
The Enercracy project is co-financed by the Interreg Baltic Sea Region Programme, which fosters transnational cooperation to address shared challenges and drive sustainable development across the region. The project’s total budget is EUR 1,591,594.51 (including EUR 1,273,275.59 of EU funding.