Baltic States – CIS, Energy, Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Forum

"Synchronizing the Baltic countries occupies a very important place because it will synchronize not only the system itself but will also desynchronize it from Russia," Jyrinsalo said speaking at a conference on security of supply organized by the Estonian TSO Elering.

The connections bringing together the Baltic countries simultaneously serve as an important interconnection between the continent and the Nordic countries, he said.

"The Baltic countries are much smaller than the Nordic countries, their electricity consumption is significantly smaller. Linking the smaller system up to the bigger one would be logical and could work technically," he said.

Jyrinsalo said all surveys on the subject were still in the initial stages. He suggested using 220-kilovolt underwater cables to link together the power systems of Estonia and Finland. The next thing that has to be done is finding out about potential places of malfunction and ways to resolve them, he added.

Jyrinsalo said that in a later stage of the study the total cost of the interconnection is to be assessed. The survey should be completed in October this year.

The Elering CEO, Taavi Veskimagi, said decoupling the Baltic countries from the electricity system of Russia should happen as quickly as possible in order to avoid the opposite – Russia desynchronizing the Baltics from its power system.

"The main prospect in desynchronization is to synchronize the Baltic electricity system with Central Europe. In addition to that we must weigh the possibility of synchronizing with the Nordic countries, all of them have to be analyzed equally because the goal is desynchronization of the Baltic countries as such," he said.

Looking at today's security situation, there is no alternative to it, Veskimagi said.

Stefan Moser, head of the security of supply unit at the European Commission's Directorate-General for Energy, said political support exists for the desynchronization of the Baltic countries from Russia and it is taken very seriously.

"I do not believe that there are clear options here, in terms of which option is the best, but the direction is clear," Moser said.