Lithuania to decide on withdrawal from Russia-Baltic power treaty by Aug. 6

Litgrid AB

24/04/2023 18:22

By Andrius Sytas
       VILNIUS, April 24 (Reuters) - Lithuania will make a
decision on whether to withdraw from a treaty governing the
common power grid of Russia, Belarus and the three Baltic States
by Aug. 6, based on a review of studies into the potential
impact, its energy minister said on Monday.
    Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, all members of NATO and the
European Union, remain a part of the Soviet-era BRELL circuit
with Russia and Belarus, relying on Russian operators to control
frequencies and balance the grid.
    The three countries signed a deal in 2018 to decouple from
the BRELL circuit and join the continental power grid by 2025,
but Lithuania wants to leave in the first part of 2024. Neither
Latvia nor Estonia has yet agreed to an earlier decoupling.
    Energy Minister Dainius Kreivys told reporters Lithuania
will make its decision to withdraw after reviewing the results
of three studies into the preparedness of the Baltic power grids
to decouple from BRELL by the earlier date.
    The studies, by power grid operators of the Baltic States
and Poland's Institute of Power Engineering, are due to be
completed by late May, Lithuania's power grid operator Litgrid
said.
    Kreivys said the results of the studies could also lead the
other Baltic states to agree on an earlier decoupling from
Russia.
    "We are doing these studies at the request of Latvia and
Estonia. We have agreed that, if the results are positive, we
can decouple earlier… We believe they will be positive," he
said.
    Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kalas told Reuters on April 12
her country could support faster decoupling, but only if it is
convinced the Baltic grid is fully prepared to work on its own.
    Last June, Reuters reported European grid operators are
ready to implement immediately a long-term plan to bring the
Baltic states, which rely on the Russian grid, into the European
Union system in the event Moscow cuts them off.


 (Reporting by Andrius Sytas in Vilnius)
 ((Andrius.Sytas@thomsonreuters.com; +370 682 74006;))