On Tuesday 16 July, the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) signed an agreement to separate from the joint BRELL power grid, which dates back to the Soviet era, in February 2025. The electricity transmission system operators (TSOs) Elering, AST and Litgrid have notified Russia and Belarus of this decision.
Despite declaring their independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, the Baltic States have remained dependent on Moscow for a stable flow of electricity.
This agreement was reached after “many years of meticulous political and resource planning (...) and, we have always known that, like we’ve become part of the European Union and NATO, so too we will become part of the European electricity system”, Lithuania’s Energy Minister, Dainius Kreivys, said on Facebook.
The BRELL agreement will expire on 7 February, and synchronisation of the Baltic countries’ power grids with the synchronous zone of continental Europe, via Poland, is scheduled for 9 February.
The EU is supporting synchronisation with funding of around €1.2 billion, which is expected to cover up to 75% of the project’s eligible costs. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)