European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and the heads of government of Poland and the Baltic States – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – will meet on the sidelines of the European Council on Thursday 22 March to discuss the separation of the Baltic electricity networks from the Russian network and synchronisation with the European continental network through Poland.
The three Baltic States, former USSR republics, remain attached to the Russian electricity network, potentially exposing them to power cuts by Russia. To reduce their dependence on Russia, the Commission has encouraged the Baltic countries to connect to the European continental network through the Polish network.
The construction in 2016 of the LitPol interconnection link between Lithuania and Poland is a first step in that direction but further links are needed for there to be full synchronisation.
The Commission and the governments of the three Baltic countries agreed at the end of 2017 to find the best way forward by June 2018.
A study is being carried out by the Baltic countries’ and Poland’s electricity transmission system operators to identify a possible solution, with its findings expected in the spring.
The Commission wants early technical-level agreement ahead of political agreement in June so that the projects selected will be able to take part, as projects of common interest (PCI), in the call for proposals for 2019 under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)