Kirkilas: Power link with Sweden to include windpark

  • 2007-03-21
  • By TBT staff
VILNIUS - Lithuanian Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas said last week that the power grid connection project between Lithuania and Sweden would include wind energy generation in both countries. Speaking to Ziniu Radijas on March 15, Kirkilas said that the 400 million euro power link, which is still being studied, would entail erecting wind turbines in Lithuania and Sweden as part of the two countries' commitment to boosting green energy. "We have the respective proposals," he said.

He said the government would work out a plan to boost the Baltic state's share of renewables in its energy mix to 20 percent of total energy consumption 's the goal established by the European Council earlier this month.
Wind energy, and to a lesser extent nuclear, has become the hot topic in the energy industry after the council's decision, as EU members search for ways to boost their green energy output.
In the beginning of March a Lithuanian firm, Veju Spektras, completed the construction of a park with 15 wind turbines that will provide 30 megawatts of electricity in the Kretinga district. The project cost 140 million litas (40 million euros).
Commenting on environmentally friendly energy in Lithuania, Kirkilas said the Baltic state was ranked in the middle of EU member states in terms of usage of renewable energy. He stressed that a new atomic power plant would help Lithuania meet the EU's renewables target since it could wean itself off natural gas.

"Virtual rehabilitation of nuclear energy is favorable to us since we aim to build a nuclear power plant," the prime minister said. "I believe that a powerful nuclear power plant will enable Lithuania to boost the share of renewables to about one-fifth of total energy consumption and further cut emissions."
In February Lietuvos Energija and Svenska Kraftnat, operator of Sweden's grid, agreed to contract Sweden's Sweco International to conduct a feasibility study on linking the two countries' energy networks. The study is to be completed in September, while the targeted completion date for the link itself is 2012.

The project 's dubbed Swedlink 's foresees a 350 kilometer underwater cable that would have a capacity of 700 - 1,000 megawatts. As Lietuvos Energija CEO Rymantas Juozaitis explained, the link is an important step in providing for the Baltics' energy security and integration in the EU energy system.
Lietuvos Energija also intends to build a power connection with Poland.
Veju Spektras will sell its output to Lietuvos Energija (Lithuanian Energy) at 0.22 litas per kilowatt.