Brussels, 22/04/2015 (Agence Europe) - Energy infrastructure and connections were at the centre of the meeting between the Commissioner for Energy, Miguel Arias Canete, and the Polish Minister for the Economy, Janusz Piechocinski, on the sidelines of the Katowice conference on Tuesday 21 April. The question of funding for the gas connection project between Poland and Lithuania was also discussed (GIPL).
Other questions included in the discussions involved connection projects between Poland and neighbouring Baltic countries, as well as the synchronisation between their respective electricity systems. Last week, the Prime Ministers of three Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) called on the Commission and Polish government to find a solution for funding the GIPL.
In August 2014, the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) said that Poland has made a net contribution to this project of €558 million and would be compensated to the tune of €85.8 million, of which €54.9 million would be paid by Lithuania, €29.4 million by Latvia and €1.5 million by Estonia. According to the Baltic News agency, Poland has asked for this amount to be increased.
The GIPL project will be implemented by the Polish transport system operator, Gaz-System and Amber Grid from Lithuania. (Emmanuel Hagry)