Balti riikide elektrisüsteemi sünkroniseerimisest Euroopaga

Intervjuu Bloombergile 08.06.2017

Andsin mõned nädalad tagasi Bloombergile intervjuu Balti riikide elektrisüsteemi sünkroniseerimisest Euroopaga. Rääkisin Venemaast lahtiühendamise vajadusest ning sammudest, mida selle saavutamiseks on vaja astuda. Tänase seisuga otsime veel konsensust Läti ja Leeduga, kuna me ei ole jõudnud kokkuleppele, kas Balti riikide elektrivõrgud Euroopaga tuleks ühe või kahe liini kaudu ühendada ning kuhu peaks tulema regionaalne LNG terminal. Intervjuu ise on allpool.

***

Baltics Need Own Grid as Russia Pulls Power Plug, Elering Says
Bloomberg
By Ott Ummelas (Bloomberg)

Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia need to be prepared to operate a stand-alone electricity system as Russia cuts ties to the region it once ruled under Soviet times and the three countries have yet to agree on how to plug into the rest of the European Union, the head of Estonia’s grid operator, Elering, said.

Elering CEO Taavi Veskimagi said Russia “is actively preparing” to decouple from the Baltic energy grids, which are connected to Russia and its Kaliningrad exclave in a system that both supplies and receives power. Russia is already no longer dependent on energy flows from region that has been part of the EU since 2004 and is setting up Kaliningrad, which has no land border to the rest of Russia, to be independent as well.

“We have quickly reached the situation where Russia’s dependence on us has evaporated or remains minimal,” Veskimagi said. “This certainly creates a sense of urgency for us to be able to work as a separately functioning Baltic synchronous area, when the security situation demands it, while there is no consensus today regarding Baltic coupling with” the EU.

The Baltic nations have accelerated efforts to ensure energy independence from their former Soviet master after the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 heightened regional security concerns.  That effort has been hampered as Estonia and Lithuania remain at odds on how to link grids to the rest of Europe and where to establish a regional liquefied natural gas terminal, with consensus required to ensure European financing for both projects.

‘Substantial Leverage’

Russia’s planned steps may ensure energy independence of its Kaliningrad exclave “most likely” by 2020, according to a May report by the Tallinn-based International Center for Defense and Security. That would mean Russia “will enjoy substantial leverage,” including the ability to cause partial blackouts, over the Baltic nations until their announced target date of 2025 for decoupling from the Russian system and joining EU grids, it said.

While Baltic premiers last month reached a tentative agreement on linking the Baltic grids to Europe through Poland, Estonian Prime Minister Juri Ratas at the time said his support was conditional on two separate power links between Lithuania and Poland instead of one, an option backed by Lithuania.

Veskimagi said there was a “wide consensus” in Estonia that Lithuania’s preferred option is “unacceptable” as it would be as much as 650 million euros ($730 million) more expensive in operating costs over a 40-year lifetime and would require about 200 million euros in additional investments into backup capacity. He said a link-up to Nordic systems also remains an option.

 

This entry was posted in Energeetika. Bookmark the permalink.

Comments are closed.