The EU allocates 720 million euros to the connection of the Baltic energy market with Europe / Article / LSM.lv

EUR 720 million has been allocated to connect the Baltic energy market with other European countries. These funds come from European Union funds and account for 75% of the costs of this round of the project. This is the maximum co-financing that the European Commission can provide for such projects.

In total, more than one billion euros have already been allocated from European funds to connect the Baltic electricity market with the rest of Europe.

The Prime Minister of Poland, Mateusz Moraveckis, as well as the President of the European Commission, Urzula von der Leien, on Friday morning, October 2, in Brussels, together with the politicians of the Baltic States, emphasized the wider significance of this project.

“This project is crucial to end the isolation of the Baltic energy market,” emphasized von der Leiena.

“The largest amount of money will be dedicated to the construction of a new interconnector in the Baltic Sea. And I couldn’t think of a better name than Harmony Link. This project improves connections between European countries, improves our energy security and promotes the Green Course. It shows that in this union, you are always in the heart of Europe, no matter where you are on the map, ”said the EC President.

“This is a very important step in promoting economic cooperation. This project is important because security of energy supply is a precondition for economic development and prosperity in our region, ”Moraveckis pointed out.

This decision “will allow the successful continuation of a project of regional importance. An excellent example of how, working together and cooperating, we are able to achieve our goals of building stronger, safer countries and Europe as a whole, “emphasized Latvian Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš (” New Unity “), pointing to the importance of the synchronization project for Latvia and the region as well. energy independence from Russia.

The Baltic States and Poland project for the second phase of power network synchronization envisages the installation of synchronous compensators in the Baltics, the modernization of Polish power networks, as well as the construction of the Harmony Link submarine cable from Lithuania to Poland.

“Together with our Baltic and Polish colleagues, the maximum result has been achieved. The project is important not only on a regional Baltic scale, but also for the EU as a whole. In addition, by investing European funds in the arrangement of the network, “Augstsprieguma tīkls” will avoid investments that would have to be made from its own resources in the future and could refer to transmission tariffs, “Varis Boks, Chairman of the Board of JSC Augstsprieguma tīkls (AST), expressed satisfaction with the EU decision.

Receiving this co-financing is one of the preconditions for the Baltic States to fulfill their commitment to disconnect from the Russian and Belarusian electricity networks already in 2025 and to start synchronous work with the European networks through Poland, the media said in a statement.

In total, the four management system operators – PSE in Poland, Litgrid in Lithuania, Elering in Estonia and AST Latvia – received about three quarters of this year’s total Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) budget for energy projects, which is 998.3 million euros. Thus, together with the CEF co-financing of the first phase of the synchronization project in the amount of 324 million euros, the European support for the synchronization of the Baltic electricity networks has already exceeded one billion euros, which is a record support for one project also at the European level.

In total, the costs of the second phase of the synchronization project are estimated at around 1.2 billion euros, of which 521 million euros are planned to be invested in Poland, 462 million euros in Lithuania, 100 million euros in Latvia and 111 million euros in Estonia.

The application to support the other activities of the second phase of the synchronization project is planned to be submitted to CEF next year.

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