by Olivier Daelen
published on Sunday, August 13, 2023 at 06:04 •
4 min reading
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have decided to disconnect from the Russian electricity grid together – and sooner than expected.
Why is this important?
Since the outbreak of war in Ukraine, many European countries have been trying to break ties with Russia. That is sometimes easier said than done. For example, the Baltic states are still dependent on the Russian electricity grid. They have now reached an agreement to put an end to that.
In the news: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania will disconnect from the Russian grid in February 2025. They reached an agreement on Thursday.
This had been planned for several years, but the war in Ukraine forced them to change their timetable.
The details: “Russia is dangerous and unpredictable.”
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania (all three EU Member States) will be connected via Poland to the continental Europe synchronous network, which already supplies more than 400 million customers in 24 countries, mainly in the EU. “The fact that the Baltic states remain part of the Brell network, which is managed by Russia, poses a threat to energy security,” the heads of government of the three countries said in a joint statement. Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas pointed out that Russia has been happy to use energy as a weapon since the start of the war in Ukraine. Staying connected to Russia’s electricity grid therefore poses a risk to Estonian consumers, the prime minister said, describing Russia as a “dangerous and unpredictable” state. “This will further increase the strength and resilience of the EU electricity grid and our energy independence in general,” said a delighted Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, while Kadri Simson, European Commissioner for Energy, hailed the agreement as “ historical”.
A compromise
De context: Lithuania hoped for a better agreement.
The Baltic states had already decided in 2018 – in consultation with Poland and the European Commission – to disconnect from the Russian electricity grid in 2025. At the time, they were aiming for the end of that year. However, given the escalating situation in Ukraine, Lithuania has insisted on carrying out this operation earlier: as early as 2024. Two weeks ago, however, Estonia responded that it was unable to disconnect from the Russian network so quickly. “I understand that Lithuania wants to disconnect faster, but Estonia would pay the highest price for that in terms of (cost), but also in terms of the risk of blackouts,” he said. Called. In the end, the February 2025 deadline seems like a good compromise for the three countries. “While we believe that the electricity systems of the Baltic countries will be ready to be synchronized before February 2025, it is important to work together to complete the remaining projects,” said Ingrida Simonyte, the Prime Minister of Lithuania.
(ns,kg)
2023-08-13 04:04:47
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