On Friday 2 February, Vice-president of the European Commission responsible for the Union of Energy Maros Sefcovic, urged the Baltic States – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – and Poland to establish their common project for synchronising their electricity networks with the rest of the EU by June.
“We must complete alignment of your electricity networks with the network of continental Europe. Synchronisation will not come cheap but it is very important and we must do it”, stressed Sefcovic, during his visit to the Latvian authorities in Riga.
“If we had a good, consensual decision, backed by all four countries by June, we could then make the necessary proposals and provide financial assistance”, he went on to say.
The three Baltic States, formerly Soviet republics, remain attached to the Russian electricity network, which means they could be subject to potential cuts by Russia. In order to reduce their dependency on Russia, the Commission is encouraging the Baltic States to connect to the continental European network via the Polish network.
The construction, in 2016, of the LitPol interconnection between Lithuania and Poland was a first step in this direction but further links are needed if there is to be complete alignment.
The Commission and the governments of the three Baltic States agreed, mid-December 2017, to reach an optimal solution by June 2018 for de-synchronisation of the Baltic electricity network from the Russian network, and alignment with the network of continental Europe.
A study carried out by electricity transmission systems operators (TSO) of the Baltic states and Poland to identify a possible solution is ongoing, and the findings of that survey are due out this spring.
The Commission is hoping for a rapid agreement at technical level in order to reach a political agreement in June and to allow selected projects to take part as projects of common interest (PCIs) in the 2019 call for proposals under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). (Original in French by Emmanuel Hagry)