Baltic states to decouple from Russian grid in early 2025

The operators of the electricity transmission systems of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have agreed to jointly decouple from the Russian-owned power grid in less than two years, the Lithuanian energy ministry said in a statement.

Elering, AST, and Litgrid signed an agreement on the synchronisation, providing for disconnection from the Russian-controlled system and synchronous connection to the continental European grid in February 2025.  

The agreement also stipulates that in the summer of 2024, six months before the synchronisation, the Baltic states will jointly withdraw from the BRELL contract, allows the countries' power systems to operate in parallel, concluded with Russian and Belarusian operators.

"The necessary works, such as the installation of the first synchronous condensers, control systems and the reconstruction of the third line between Estonia and Latvia, will be completed by the agreed date," the statement reads.

Other projects implemented by Baltic TSOs related to synchronisation will be implemented until the end of 2025 or later.

The agreement is to be endorsed by the prime ministers of the three Baltic countries in the following days.

Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, CEO of Ukrainian state energy company Ukrenergo, welcomed the decision of the Baltic operators.

"For decades, Russia has been spreading fears to its neighbours that there is some kind of dangerous life behind the fortress wall of the Moscow-controlled power system and that they cannot survive without it. Last year, Ukraine showed that this is not true," he said.

Ukraine decoupled its power system from Russia on 24 February 2022, the day Moscoe launched a full-scale invasion against the neighbouring country.

Three weeks later, Ukraine joined the ENTSO-E European continental power system, which allowed it to start trading electricity with the European Union.