European Commission (EC) officials and top officials from Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Poland signed the political roadmap implementing the synchronisation of the Baltic States’ electricity networks with the continental European network via Poland, on late Thursday.
According to a statement from the EC, EC President Jean-Claude Juncker, Vice-President Maros Sefcovic, Dalia Grybauskaite, President of Lithuania, Juri Ratas, Prime Minister of Estonia, Mateusz Morawiecki, Prime Minister of Poland and Krisjanis Karins, Prime Minister of Latvia attended the signing ceremony.
'Since the beginning of our mandate, my commission has worked to build consensus. Today's signature is clear proof that we have achieved this: synchronisation is a project where we have decided to work together. Today we can proudly acknowledge that we have accomplished all key milestones, and we are now setting the tone of the work for the future up to the end of 2025,' said Juncker.
He said that the EC has always been committed to the full integration of the Baltic States' grids with the rest of Europe.
The synchronisation of the Baltic States with the Central European grid is a cornerstone and one of the most emblematic projects of the Energy Union, a concrete expression of European solidarity in energy security, the commision said.
On 19 March 2019, the EC grant agreement was signed for the €323 million financing for the first phase of the synchronisation process, covering 75% of the investment needs for this phase.
In May 2019, the formal extension of the continental European grid to the Baltic States' was approved within the European Network of Transmission System Operators in a process initiated by Poland.
The EC is committed to facilitate decisive progress on the synchronisation and support the Baltic States in this mandate and working towards implementing strategic energy infrastructure of the Baltic Sea region, according to the statement.
The Baltic States region is now connected with European partners through recently established electricity lines with Poland (LitPol Link), Sweden (NordBalt) and Finland (Estlink 1 and Estlink 2).
For historical reasons, however, the Baltic States' electricity grid is still operated in a synchronous mode with the Russian and Belarusian systems.
By Murat Temizer
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr