>VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — The electricity grid operators of the three Baltic countries on Tuesday officially notified Russia and Belarus that they will exit a 2001 agreement that has kept Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania connected to an electricity transmission system controlled by Moscow.
>The Baltic countries have already stopped buying electricity from Russia. And in a plan announced last year as part of moves to sever ties with Moscow following its invasion of Ukraine, they will shift their grid connections next February to the main continental European energy network in a move to end reliance.
>Utility operators Elering of Estonia, AST of Latvia and Litgrid of Lithuania said that the exit notice was signed in the Latvian capital of Riga on Tuesday. The joint agreement with Moscow and Minsk will end Feb. 7, and the Baltic systems will be disconnected from the grid the next day.
>“We will disconnect and dismantle the last physical connections with Russian and Belarusian grids,” Litgrid CEO Rokas Masiulis said, calling the move an “ambitious energy independence project.”
>The three former Soviet republics do not currently buy electricity from Russia, but remain physically connected to a grid in which the electricity frequency is controlled by Moscow under the 2001 BRELL agreement. The Baltic systems plan to synchronize with the continental European system on Feb. 9, 2025. Both systems use 50 Hz alternating current.
>“Synchronization with Continental Europe Synchronous Area will allow for independent, stable and reliable frequency control of the Baltic states electricity grids and will increase energy security in the region,” Estonia’s grid operator Elering said.
>Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland agreed with the European Union’s executive commission in 2019 to coordinate on connecting the Baltic nations to the EU’s power network by the end of 2025. However, Russia’s war in Ukraine led the Baltic countries to speed up the project.
>The February 2025 date for the transition was a compromise. Lithuania wanted an energy exit as early as this year, citing Moscow’s unreliability and its aggression in Ukraine. Estonia resisted a quicker cutoff, saying it might experience blackouts if the transition happened too soon.
>“The Baltic electricity market has adapted and operates without electricity import from Russia,” said chairman Rolands Irklis from Latvia’s AST.
>“Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Latvia has completely stopped electricity import and export from Russia and Belarus, and synchronization with continental Europe is the last step to achieve country’s independence in the field of electricity supply,” Irklis said.
>There was no immediate response from Russia’s Energy Ministry to a request by The Associated Press for comment.
Token nuclear threat incoming
Should not have given them advanced notice- now Russia will probably try something
The future of democracy is in the Baltics.
Good! Even little bit helps.
Understandable. Someone will know what Russia could do with the grid in the Baltic countries by manipulating the frequency. So theoretically it would have been the best to have a high-voltage DC (de-)coupling. But this has also a price tag. On the other hand there is the Kaliningrad oblast. This is according to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaliningrad_Oblast#Power_generation meanwhile independent from electricity imports. But I have no idea whether this also means independent from energy transit. I also have no idea how reliable the energy supply in the adjacent part of Russia is. In the south it is currently problematic. Today found on e1 ru for Yekaterinburg, so probably on 20+ regional sites all over Russia: “Plunged into darkness. What is happening in the south of Russia, which was left without electricity after a failure at the Rostov nuclear power plant” Even Sochi was affected … in the middle of the vacation season.
hmm A disconnection from Russia energy test was performed just hours before Russia invaded Ukraine.
The important part is the dismantling of the links that follows. Would make it that little bit harder to plan an invasion with no ready way to restore grid power afterwards except by capturing local production intact, easier said than done.
This is wild to me. Any reason why they didn’t do this sooner? Like after the fall of the USSR I can see how they’d stay connected for several years before building their own electricity infrastructure. They had decades
9 comments
>VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — The electricity grid operators of the three Baltic countries on Tuesday officially notified Russia and Belarus that they will exit a 2001 agreement that has kept Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania connected to an electricity transmission system controlled by Moscow.
>The Baltic countries have already stopped buying electricity from Russia. And in a plan announced last year as part of moves to sever ties with Moscow following its invasion of Ukraine, they will shift their grid connections next February to the main continental European energy network in a move to end reliance.
>Utility operators Elering of Estonia, AST of Latvia and Litgrid of Lithuania said that the exit notice was signed in the Latvian capital of Riga on Tuesday. The joint agreement with Moscow and Minsk will end Feb. 7, and the Baltic systems will be disconnected from the grid the next day.
>“We will disconnect and dismantle the last physical connections with Russian and Belarusian grids,” Litgrid CEO Rokas Masiulis said, calling the move an “ambitious energy independence project.”
>The three former Soviet republics do not currently buy electricity from Russia, but remain physically connected to a grid in which the electricity frequency is controlled by Moscow under the 2001 BRELL agreement. The Baltic systems plan to synchronize with the continental European system on Feb. 9, 2025. Both systems use 50 Hz alternating current.
>“Synchronization with Continental Europe Synchronous Area will allow for independent, stable and reliable frequency control of the Baltic states electricity grids and will increase energy security in the region,” Estonia’s grid operator Elering said.
>Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland agreed with the European Union’s executive commission in 2019 to coordinate on connecting the Baltic nations to the EU’s power network by the end of 2025. However, Russia’s war in Ukraine led the Baltic countries to speed up the project.
>The February 2025 date for the transition was a compromise. Lithuania wanted an energy exit as early as this year, citing Moscow’s unreliability and its aggression in Ukraine. Estonia resisted a quicker cutoff, saying it might experience blackouts if the transition happened too soon.
>“The Baltic electricity market has adapted and operates without electricity import from Russia,” said chairman Rolands Irklis from Latvia’s AST.
>“Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Latvia has completely stopped electricity import and export from Russia and Belarus, and synchronization with continental Europe is the last step to achieve country’s independence in the field of electricity supply,” Irklis said.
>There was no immediate response from Russia’s Energy Ministry to a request by The Associated Press for comment.
Token nuclear threat incoming
Should not have given them advanced notice- now Russia will probably try something
The future of democracy is in the Baltics.
Good! Even little bit helps.
Understandable.
Someone will know what Russia could do with the grid in the Baltic countries by manipulating the frequency.
So theoretically it would have been the best to have a high-voltage DC (de-)coupling.
But this has also a price tag.
On the other hand there is the Kaliningrad oblast.
This is according to:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaliningrad_Oblast#Power_generation
meanwhile independent from electricity imports.
But I have no idea whether this also means independent from energy transit.
I also have no idea how reliable the energy supply in the adjacent part of Russia is.
In the south it is currently problematic.
Today found on e1 ru for Yekaterinburg, so probably on 20+ regional sites all
over Russia:
“Plunged into darkness. What is happening in the south of Russia, which was left without electricity after a failure at the Rostov nuclear power plant”
Even Sochi was affected … in the middle of the vacation season.
hmm A disconnection from Russia energy test was performed just hours before Russia invaded Ukraine.
The important part is the dismantling of the links that follows. Would make it that little bit harder to plan an invasion with no ready way to restore grid power afterwards except by capturing local production intact, easier said than done.
This is wild to me. Any reason why they didn’t do this sooner? Like after the fall of the USSR I can see how they’d stay connected for several years before building their own electricity infrastructure. They had decades