Baltic countries to stop energy imports from Russia and Belarus
The Baltic countries are beginning to exit the electricity network with Russia and Belarus, which they have been using since the Soviet times.
According to Interfax, on Tuesday, Lithuanian electricity transmission system operator Litgrid AB announced a three-fold reduction in the electricity intake from Belarus.
From September 15, the maximum transmission capacity from Belarus to Lithuania will be reduced from the current 1,250 megawatts to 400 megawatts.
Lithuania has restricted electricity imports from Belarus since November last year, when the Belarusian nuclear power plant was launched. Nevertheless, Belarusian electricity continues to flow to the Baltic market through Latvia, which allows trading of imported electricity on the Riga Stock Exchange.
Lithuania will now limit electricity imports. With the new transmission limits, the commercial electricity imports will be significantly reduced.
The Baltic countries intend to completely withdraw from the BRELL energy ring (Belarus, Russia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) by 2025 and join the EU system through Poland. They will use the already built LitPol Transmission Link and the Harmony Link, which is still being built.
Lithuania itself has alternative electricity supplies from Poland, Sweden and Latvia.
In April 2021, as part of the exercises, the Baltic countries completely stopped the import of electricity from Russia, which is purchased from Inter RAO.
In June 2018, the Baltic states, Poland and the European Commission signed an agreement in Brussels to synchronize the electricity grids of the three Baltic countries with the grids of continental Europe.