European Energy's solar park becomes Lithuania's 1st to join electricity balancing market

VILNIUS - A solar park in the village of Meiluskiai in Lithuania's northeastern district of Anyksciai, operated by Danish renewable energy company European Energy, has joined the Lithuanian electricity balancing market and submitted its first offers, becoming the first solar park in the country to help balance electricity consumption and production, Litgrid, Lithuania's state-owned electricity transmission system operator, said on Friday.

According to Energy Minister Zygimantas Vaiciunas, the development of a competitive and efficient balancing market is one of the most important goals after the Baltic grids were synchronized with continental Europe.

"As Lithuania strives to generate all of its electricity from renewable sources, the need for balancing services is growing. The connection of the first solar park to this market is a significant step on the road to a strong and sustainable energy sector," he said.

The 34 MW balancing service is provided by Centrica Energy, an international energy trading and asset management company based in the UK, which buys electricity from European Energy's park.

Litgrid, Latvia's Augstsprieguma Tikls and Estonia's Elering joined Europe's Manually Activated Reserves Initiative (MARI) in October last year and also joined the Platform for the International Coordination of Automated Frequency Restoration and Stable System Operation (PICASSO) in March-April this year.