Lithuania produces three times less electricity than it consumes. One of Europe’s largest electricity generation deficits exacerbates the already soaring electricity prices, experts say.
The origins of the issue – December 31, 2009, 22:54. That is when the second reactor of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant, which met 70% of Lithuania’s electricity need, was shut down.
Ignalina NPP, Lithuania’s sole nuclear plant, had to be closed as a precondition for the country to join the EU, as it was considered unsafe for its reactor – same as in Chernobyl.
Three years later, some politicians thought they had found a solution. An agreement was reached with the Japanese company Hitachi on the construction of a new NPP. However, the project needed the approval of the Lithuanian parliament Seimas, which decided to call a referendum.
Lithuanian voters rejected the idea of a new NPP. The then Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius said he would respect the will of the public.
Today, the former prime minister says he does not feel responsible for the decision: “Remember that after the referendum, it is unlikely that any political force would have allowed such a project to go ahead when the public had a completely different opinion.”
Andrius Kubilius, who served as prime minister in 2008-2012, supported the new NPP project. He says the failure to implement it is a cause of today’s electricity market crisis.
“We were left without the Ignalina NPP and without sufficient generation. Now, we are paying a very painful price,” Kubilius said.
Another attempt to compensate for the lost electricity after the closure of the Ignalina NPP was the opening of the ninth unit at the Lithuanian thermal power plant in Elektrenai. It was supposed to ensure and meet Lithuania’s energy needs.
“When we face certain challenges, this unit will help us manage them,” said Dalius Misiunas, the then head of Lietuvos Energija (now Ignitis – Lithuania’s state-owned energy group).
However, the unit generates electricity from gas, the price of which is now at record highs.
“Now, it seems to be a suicidal project,” admits Kestutis Jauniskis, President of the Electricity Energy Association.
According to him, renewable energy is now the way to go if Lithuania wants to void the mistakes of the past.
But representatives of the wind turbine industry stress excessive bureaucracy. The development of wind and solar power plants is slowed down by power quotas set by the state, beyond which permits are not issued.
The capacity of wind projects currently underway is 1,000 MW, says Edgaras Maladauskas, interim director of the Wind Energy Association. It could in theory fill Lithuania’s electricity generation deficit, but the wind is not constant, so even more capacity is needed.
“These days, speed is important if we are talking about the price of electricity. Before the new wind farms start generating electricity, we will have such high prices,” Maladauskas said.
Lithuania is also planning to install a wind farm of up to 700 MW in the Baltic Sea. But the project is expected to be completed until 2030. (LRT/Business World Magazine)
