Energy, EU – Baltic States, Legislation, Lithuania

The interconnections would be added to the trading system on Dec. 8 and electricity supplied via those links could be purchased for December 9, the exchange said in a press release.

On Thursday, Litgrid, the Lithuanian electricity transmission system operator, would launch testing of electricity transmission via LitPol Link, which would be followed by operational testing in mid-December.

“Tests and systemic testing of the interconnection have already been launched. The first low-voltage transmission operation is scheduled for Thursday. Operational testing is scheduled to begin in mid-December and it should continue till the end of December,” Karolis Sankovskis, director of Strategic Infrastructure Department at Litgrid, told BNS.

Testing of NordBalt was also underway, he said.

“In fact, tests were launched a week ago. They are performed now and will also be continued in December. Operational testing should begin in December and, according to plans, will take approximately two months. We hope that the interconnection can be put into full use somewhere around mid-December,” Sankovskis said.

The 550-million-euro, 453-kilometer NordBalt is the first electricity interconnection between Lithuania and Scandinavia. The undersea cable, manufactured by ABB, connects the Klaipeda transformer substation with that in Nybro, in Sweden.

The 370-million-euro LitPol Link is the first electricity link between the technologically different grids of Lithuania and Western Europe.