EU awarded €323 million grant to Baltic synchronisation project at policy conference on interconnected energy grids, the European Commission announced on Wednesday.
According to a statement by the commission, on 19 March 2019 in Brussels, the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) grant was signed to support the first phase of investments necessary for the synchronisation of the Baltic States' electricity network with the European system.
The grant will provide a total of €323 million, which will be used for reinforcements of the Baltic grid.
The agreement was signed in the presence of Arias Canete, Commissioner for Climate action and energy, Zygimantas Vaiciunas, Minister for Energy of Lithuania, Edijs Saicans, Director of Energy and Infrastructure of the Ministry of Economics of Latvia, Jaanus Uiga, expert from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications of Estonia, and Dominique Ristori, Director-General for Energy of the European Commission.
'Today marks another important milestone for the European Energy Union and in the Baltic States' ambition to truly integrate their electricity system with continental Europe, improve energy security in the Baltic region and reinforce European solidarity,' Commissioner Cañete said.
Canete added that the synchronisation is a symbol for European solidarity in energy.
'Whilst formerly an 'energy island', 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). These projects were made possible and built with EU support. For historical reasons, however, the Baltic States' electricity grid is still operated in a synchronous mode with the Russian and Belarusian systems,' the EC said.
It noted that the synchronisation of the Baltic States' electricity grid with the continental European network is an essential political priority for the achievement of the Energy Union.
By Murat Temizer
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr