Energy minister hails Lithuania’s test as argument for Baltic states to speed up synchronization

VILNIUS – An isolated operation test of Lithuania’s electricity system performed by the country’s electricity transmission system operator Litgrid on Saturday will become an additional argument for Latvia and Estonia to speed up the synchronization of the Baltic countries’ electricity grids with the Western European system, Lithuanian Energy Minister Dainius Kreivys has said.

“For us, this test is a very significant argument in discussions with the Latvians and the Estonians about further accelerated synchronization,” he told reporters on Monday.

“It’s not that, speaking politically, Latvia and Estonia do not want to synchronize faster. They want to, they need additional technical arguments and this test, in my view, is one of those major additional arguments why we can synchronize head-on and safely,” the minister added.

During the test, connections to the IPS/UPS system controlled by Russia were disconnected from the Lithuanian electricity system, which operated in the energy island mode for the first time ever on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Electricity was supplied to consumers by power plants operating in Lithuania, as well as direct current connections with Poland and Sweden, but the balance and frequency of the electricity system was controlled by Litgrid dispatchers only.

With Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia seeking to synchronize their electricity grids with the Continental European system, an isolated operation test involving electricity systems of the three countries will also have to be performed.

Lithuanian officials earlier said that they tried to persuade Latvia and Estonia to join the test performed by Lithuania on Saturday but the transmission system operators of the said two countries refused to join Lithuania’s test saying they were technically unready for the exercise.

Lithuania is eager to step up the process of synchronization with Continental European grids and complete it in 2024 but Latvia and Estonia want to stick to the earlier agreed target date of 2025.