The UK is Facing Tomato Shortages.

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What’s up today:

• Lithuania Prepares 700MW Offshore Wind Tender.

• Meme Of The Week.

• The UK Is Facing Tomato Shortages.

• Quick & Clean Weekly Bites.

Lithuania Prepares 700MW Offshore Wind Tender.

Lithuania’s Ministry of Energy is preparing to announce a tender to develop an offshore wind farm.

The ministry submitted drafts of the government's resolutions for public consultation, covering the location in the Baltic Sea where a 700MW offshore wind farm would be developed, as well as the requirements for the bidders.

Under the plan, the offshore wind farm will be developed around 36km from the shore and installed by 2028, providing up to a quarter of Lithuania's total electricity demand.

The proposed resolution comes with requirements for participants' financial capacity, experience in carrying out projects of this type, obligations to contribute to environmental protection and the well-being of the coastal community.

The developer will have to carry out all necessary research, environmental impact assessment and other necessary actions for the development of the park. Also, the winner of the tender will be responsible for connecting the project to the electricity transmission networks on land and for the imbalance caused by the generated electricity.

After the government adopts the resolutions on March 30 the State Energy Regulatory Council (VERT) should announce a tender to select the developer of this park.

Meme Of The Week.

The UK Is Facing Tomato Shortages.

Certain fresh vegetables and fruits are hard to come by in the UK as a result of an unfortunate combination of poor weather reducing the harvest in Europe and north Africa, as well lower supplies from UK and Dutch producers hit by the jump in energy bills to heat glasshouses.

At this time of year, Britain relies on Spain, Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt for the bulk of salad imports. However, these crops have been affected by unusually cold weather last month, including intense night frosts, while tomato plants have also been damaged or killed by disease – in particular the tomato brown rugose virus.

Meanwhile, Britain and other northern European countries – particularly the Netherlands which is a big vegetable producer – have reduced how many crops they have planted over the winter, after the Ukraine war sent bills soaring for the energy required to light and heat greenhouses and the cost of the fertiliser used on plants.

Faced with higher costs for glasshouse crops, some retailers chose to rely more heavily this year on sourcing from Spain and north Africa, leaving them more vulnerable to the weather-triggered shortages.

Quick & Clean Weekly Bites.

• The world’s oldest European hedgehog has been found at a Danish volunteer project. The posthumous discovery was the result of the Danish Hedgehog Project, a citizen science initiative that asked volunteers to collect dead hedgehogs in the name of conservation research. They were shocked to discover that one of the hogs was 16 years old, making it the oldest scientifically documented European hedgehog ever found. Link. 

• A record number of heat pumps were sold last year in Europe. Data from Europe shows that 3 million units replaced around 4 billion cubic metres of natural gas in 2022 - the equivalent of avoiding 8 million tonnes of CO2 emissions. It means that heat pumps are now helping Europe to avoid 54 megatons of CO2 or roughly the equivalent annual emissions of Greece. Link.

• A record number of heat pumps were sold last year in Europe. Data from Europe shows that 3 million units replaced around 4 billion cubic metres of natural gas in 2022 - the equivalent of avoiding 8 million tonnes of CO2 emissions. It means that heat pumps are now helping Europe to avoid 54 megatons of CO2 or roughly the equivalent annual emissions of Greece. Link.