This week, Gren has commenced construction work to connect Jelgava Palace to the city’s district heating system.  The aim is to provide the historic building, which houses the Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies, with safe and price-competitive heat energy produced from local, renewable resources.

Within the framework of the project, it is planned to construct a connection to the city’s district heating network, build a connection under the Driksa River and Pils channel the necessary infrastructure in Pilssala (Palace Island). Gren’s project manager Rihards Zakrepskis explains: “Connecting Jelgava Palace to the city’s district heating system is our most important project in Jelgava this year. The project is challenging due to the palace’s location on the island. Other buildings of the Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies were connected to the city’s district heating system in 2022 and 2023, but the planning and preparation for the Jelgava Palace connection required significantly more time. We are now commencing the necessary construction works so that, in the next heating season, also this university’s building could receive heat energy from the Gren biomass CHP plant that supplies Jelgava district heating network. ”

The length of the district heating connection under the river and the channel is 245 m, while the total length of the new heating network to be built is 692 m. Construction is expected to be fully completed by the start of the heating season.

In Jelgava, district heating is used by 16,000 households or 420 residential houses and about 200 B2B customers – public buildings, schools, kindergartens, enterprises. Approximately 95% – 97% of the heat energy needed for district heating in Jelgava is produced in the largest biomass CHP plant in Latvia from local, renewable energy resources – mainly from sustainably sourced wood chips.

About Jelgava Palace

Jelgava Palace, the largest architectural monument in the Baltic States, is a Baroque masterpiece and the former residence of the Dukes of Courland and Semigallia. It later served as the administrative center of the Courland Governorate and is now home to the Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies (LBTU). The palace was designed by architect Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli.