Lithuania says it will limit Baltic power trade with Russia and Belarus
05/07/2021 20:09
By Andrius Sytas
VILNIUS, July 5 (Reuters) - Lithuania says it will limit
Baltic power trade with Russia and Belarus from Sept. 15, by
decreasing the transfer capacity of its power links with Belarus
from 1,250 to 400 megawatts (MW), its transmission system
operator Litgrid said on Monday.
The change will need to be approved by the Lithuanian
regulator, the statement said.
Thirty years after splitting from the former Soviet Union
and 17 years since joining the European Union, Lithuania, Latvia
and Estonia are still in common electricity grid with Russia and
Belarus.
Electricity from Russia and Belarus travel freely on the
common grid, but only Latvia allows buying the non-Baltic
electricity on its power exchange.
Once traded on the Latvian exchange, the electricity can
then be resold anywhere in the Baltics.
Lithuania protested against this trading scheme when it was
introduced in November, saying it opens the door to selling
power from Astravets Nuclear Power Plant in Belarus into the
Baltics. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2HR7EF
Lithuania considers the nuclear power plant, built near its
capital Vilnius, unsafe, and its law prohibits sales of
electricity from Astravets in Lithuania.
Latvia disagrees, saying it only allows buying power from
Russia, not Belarus.
(Reporting by Andrius Sytas in Vilnius; Editing by Nick Macfie)
((Andrius.Sytas@thomsonreuters.com; +370 682 74006;))