Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has approved a methodology that will prevent electricity generated at the Astravjec Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) from entering Latvia, informed PUC manager Rolands Irklis.
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On 25 August this year, the closed part of the government meeting was heard Ministry of Economics (EM) Information report on electricity trade with Belarus.
According to the minutes of the government meeting, taking into account the development of events in Belarus and the resulting risks to the observance of international nuclear safety standards at the Astravjec NPP, the ministers decided that in case the Astravjec NPP starts operating, Latvia will suspend electricity trade with Belarus.
To ensure this, the MoE was instructed to develop a solution for electricity trade with third countries together with the transmission system operator.
The head of PUC confirmed that this week the regulator has approved the methodology by which the electricity produced in Belarus will not reach Latvia.
According to Irklis, the main basic principle of the methodology will provide that, for example, Russia, which has an interconnection with Belarus, will have to provide confirmation that the electricity supplied to Latvia from Russia is not produced in Belarus.
According to Irklis, this method has now been approved by Latvia and Estonia, but Lithuanian agreement is still pending.
Previously Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš (JV) emphasized that in case the Astravyez NPP is started up in Belarus, Latvia will stop trading in electricity with Belarus.
According to the Lithuanian electricity transmission system operator Litgrid on Monday, it has received information from the Belarusian energy group Belenergo that electricity production could start at the Astravyez NPP from 1 to 10 November.
Litgrid stated that in accordance with the Lithuanian law on the boycott of electricity generated by the Astravyez NPP, the company will determine zero permeability for electricity trade from Belarus from the moment electricity production starts at this power plant.
Lithuania believes that Belarus has not complied with safety requirements by building a power plant about 30 kilometers from the Lithuanian border and 50 kilometers from Vilnius, but Minsk denies the allegations. Lithuania has passed a law banning electricity from the nuclear power plant from its market and has called on neighboring countries to boycott it.
On 20 August, Belarus announced that the loading of nuclear fuel into the first reactor at the Astravyez NPP had been completed, but on 11 October it announced that a controlled chain reaction had been launched and research would be carried out in the near future to verify the safety of the control system and nuclear safety. energy start-up of the first power unit with connection to the state power system.
President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko previously stated that this could happen on 7 November.
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