Lithuanian and Polish power transmission operators Litgrid and PSE signed and agreement on Friday on the installation of a Lithuanian-Polish submarine HVDC cable as part of the synchronization of the Baltic states’ power systems with that of continental Europe.
With this agreement, the companies pledge to start preparatory work for the installation of the cable named Harmony Link, Litgrid said.
Under the plan, the synchronization will take place by 2025 via the existing Lithuanian-Polish LitPol Link and the new submarine cable between the two countries.
The so-called synchronous compensators will be installed at hydropower plants in the three Baltic states. Their number, based on information BNS Lithuania has, will vary from 4 to 9, with one costing around 25 million euros. And the total operational costs, depending on the number of such installations, will vary from 4 million to us much as 400 million euros.
Including additional technical solutions (the installation of compensators and other work), the synchronization project could cost around 1.4 billion euros, with the European Union expected to allocated 75 percent of the funds.
According to the Lithuanian operator, the link project is the first step from the political agreement on the synchronization of the Baltic states’ grids with that of continental Europe, the leaders of the European Commission, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland signed in June.
The Baltic grids are still part of the post-Soviet BRELL ring, which also includes Russia and Belarus, and remain dependent on the control center in Moscow and the Russian electricity system.
