From October 2025 through September 2026, low-carbon sources supplied about 64% of Latvia’s electricity consumption—almost two-thirds of the total. Hydropower contributed around 34%, solar about 21%, biofuels 5%, and wind 4%. Fossil electricity, entirely from gas in these data, accounted for about 21%, while net imports supplied another 14%. The imports’ generation mix is not specified, so they should be kept separate from both the clean and fossil categories. Hydropower remains Latvia’s largest electricity source, with solar now making a substantial contribution.

Is Electricity Growing in Latvia?

Latvia’s electricity consumption has reached a new per-person high, although low-carbon generation has not yet regained its earlier record. The latest 2026 consumption figure is about 4,080 kWh per person, roughly 120 kWh, or 3%, above the previous record of 3,960 kWh in 2018. This is encouraging growth as electrification and AI create additional electricity demand. However, low-carbon generation stands at about 2,620 kWh per person, around 200 kWh, or 7%, below its 2017 record. That shortfall is concerning: Latvia needs clean electricity generation to grow alongside consumption.

Suggestions

Latvia should build on solar’s already substantial contribution by expanding rooftop and utility-scale installations, supported by stronger grids and electricity storage. North Macedonia, where solar supplies 40% of electricity generation, offers an example of how much further solar can grow, although local conditions differ. Nearby Lithuania provides a particularly relevant wind example, generating 41% of its electricity from wind, while Denmark reaches 59%. Latvia should also consider developing nuclear electricity, drawing on regional experience: nuclear supplies 37% of Finland’s electricity generation and 25% of Sweden’s. Expanding solar and wind while exploring nuclear would broaden Latvia’s low-carbon electricity supply and help displace gas, reducing climate-changing emissions and air pollution.

History

Latvia’s low-carbon electricity history has been dominated by large year-to-year swings in hydropower. In the late 1980s, a 0.7 TWh increase in 1987 was reversed in 1988. The 1990s brought further volatility: a 0.9 TWh rise in 1990 was followed by declines in 1991 and 1992; later, gains of 1.1 TWh in 1997 and 1.4 TWh in 1998 followed a 1996 decline, before generation fell by 1.6 TWh in 1999. During the 2000s and early 2010s, smaller gains were interspersed with disappointing declines, including successive falls in 2013 and 2014. Hydropower then increased by 0.7 TWh in 2016 and 1.9 TWh in 2017, only for the latter gain to be reversed in 2018. More recently, hydropower rose by 1 TWh in 2023, and solar added 0.9 TWh in 2026—an encouraging step toward a larger, more diversified clean electricity supply.

Electricity Imports and Exports

Balance of Trade

* 12M = Last 12 months (Oct 2025 – Sep 2026) — a rolling 12-month period, not a calendar year.