Lithuania still continues attempts to convince colleagues in Latvia and Estonia to speed up the synchronisation of their power networks with continental Europe, announced Prime Minister of Lithuania Ingrida Šimonytė on Thursday, the 29th of June.
“It would be optimal for Baltic States to make a joint decision,” she told Žiniu radijas, adding that decision-making would be easier with results of studies of different institutions.
“We believe such studies present a positive view on the opportunities to perform synchronisation with continental Europe. However, discussions will still continue with colleagues in Baltic States,”
said the Lithuanian PM.
“I still hope we will be able to convince them to do it as quickly as possible while we there is still time. We discuss these topics, organise meetings on different levels, and we try to convince our colleagues,” she said.
Lithuanian Minister of Energy Dainius Kreivis announced on Wednesday, the 28th of June, that in order to perform the synchronisation in 2024. The issue of non-extension of the so-called BRELL arc contract should be resolved this year.
The agreement is automatically extended every year if none of the involved sides announce refusal for its extension by August.
If Lithuania does not do it, the next opportunity to exit BRELL will come no sooner than 2025.
As previously reported, operator of Lithuanian state power distribution system Litgrid performed the first isolated state power system test on the 22nd of April. This test proved successful.
Lithuanian officials previously announced that in the event of a successful test, the state would consider exiting BRELL, which connects Baltic States with Russian and Belarusian power networks, in February 2024.
Officials stress that if this opportunity is missed, Lithuania will be able to exit BRELL no sooner than 202, which would delay plans to connect to continental Europe.
Lithuania is committed to synchronising power lines with western Europe by February 2024. Latvia and Estonia have doubts about the possibility of speeding up the synchronisation process.
According to the European Commission, the synchronisation of Baltic States is a political and financial priority. Europe has allocated more than EUR 1.2 billion towards this.
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