EU invests in Baltic synchronisation project

On 22 March 2018, President Juncker and the leaders of Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia and Poland, gave the Baltics synchronisation project a renewed impetus at a special meeting in the margins of the European Council.

Now, translating this political commitment into action, a grant agreement under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) was signed in the margins of the Informal Energy Council in Sofia 18th April 2018 in the presence of Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Cañete, accompanied by the Director-General of the European Commission’s Energy Directorate-General, Dominique Ristori. The signing ceremony was attended by the Estonian Deputy Secretary General for Energy, Ando Leppiman, the Latvian State Secretary for Energy, Ēriks Eglītis, the Lithuanian Minsiter of Energy, Žygimantas Vaičiūnas, and the Polish Undersecretary of State for Energy, Michał Kurtyka. The grant will provide €125,000 for a technical study to pursue the synchronisation process. The signatories to the agreement were the Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA), on behalf of the EU, and the representatives of the Transmission System Operators of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

The synchronisation process is a key step to physically integrate the Baltic States with the Continental European energy system, and it offers a major contribution to the solidarity and energy security of the European Union. It is one of the most emblematic projects of the Energy Union.

The completion of this study with the support of the Connecting Europe Facility will be another milestone on the road towards June 2018, when leaders have committed themselves to  reach a final political agreement on the preferred way of synchronising the Baltic states with the Continental European network.

Climate Action and Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete welcomed the investment, saying:

The synchronisation of the Baltic States' electricity grid with the continental European network is a key element of the third EU list of Projects of Common Interest (PCIs) adopted last November, and an essential political priority for the achievement of the Energy Union. The European Commission is committed to make decisive progress on this issue in this mandate, working towards implementing strategic energy infrastructure projects and addressing the various aspects required to end the energy isolation of the Baltic Sea region. This is what European solidarity on energy is all about.

Baltic Energy Market Interconnection Plan