Lithuania may withdraw from the post-Soviet BRELL agreement with Russia and Belarus next year, if this week’s power system isolated operation test is successful.
Lithuanian politicians and energy officials are planning both steps in an attempt to persuade Latvia and Estonia to speed up the synchronisation of their electricity grids with the Continental European system.
For now, the status quo on synchronisation remains in place, as Latvia and Estonia want to stick to the earlier schedule of 2025, despite Lithuania’s efforts to persuade them to complete the process in 2024.
In a sign of disagreement over the date, Lithuania will carry out an isolated operation test alone on April 22, as Latvia and Estonia say they are not yet technically ready.
If the test is successful, Lithuania is considering to exercise an option in the BRELL treaty, which regulates the participation in the post-Soviet energy system, to withdraw from it in February 2024.
If it misses the opportunity, the treaty will allow Lithuania to do so again only in 2025, which could hamper plans for earlier synchronisation, officials say.
Rokas Masiulis, CEO of Lithuania’s electricity transmission system operator Litgrid, said that the test was planned a long time ago and was meant to see if the country’s systems were ready for emergencies. Latvia’s and Estonia’s decision does not change anything, he adds.
“Of course, we hoped that the Latvians and Estonians would join our test and we would do a test of the three Baltic countries, which would make a strong political statement. But the Latvians and the Estonians did not agree to it. That is why we are doing it alone this time,” he said.
Elering and AST, the Estonian and Latvian power transmission system operators, said that they were not joining Lithuania’s test because the projects and infrastructure needed for synchronisation had not been completed. According to the Latvian TSO, a joint Baltic test is planned for 2025.
Masiulis says that a test involving all three countries is tentatively planned for 2024, but admits that it may not be possible to agree on a date with the neighbours.
“I can’t say for sure until a date is finally agreed with them,” he said.
A Lithuanian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that by not joining the test, Latvia and Estonia were showing they were not in favour of faster synchronisation.
Lithuanian officials confirm that they will consider exiting the BRELL treaty if the isolated test succeeds.
Signed back in February 2001, the treaty defines how Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Russia and Belarus operate in the IPS/UPS system, or the so-called BRELL ring, where electricity frequency is centrally regulated from Moscow.
The treaty is automatically renewed each year if none of the signatories notifies about a withdrawal by August, six months before the expiry.
“We want to legally leave BRELL, to give notice on August 8 this year, and to leave BRELL six months later, in early February,” Energy Minister Dainius Kreivys said.
“There is one window and I hope that that window will be chosen and then desynchronisation and synchronisation with continental Europe is possible after that,” he said.
Masiulis says that Lithuania’s exit from the BRELL treaty would be a political and legal step and that power lines will not be physically “cut off”.
“The legal withdrawal from BRELL is a waiver of the agreement with Russia and Belarus. But technically, the lines would remain connected and the system would function as it did,” Litgrid’s CEO said.
“In order to disconnect the lines, there has to be preparation for the synchronisation with continental Europe, and the synchronisation has to take place jointly with Latvia and Estonia,” he added.
Kreivys said after meeting with his Latvian counterpart last week that he hoped that the Baltic countries would take a joint decision to withdraw from the BRELL treaty.
This could be made possible by the positive results of the technical feasibility studies currently underway, which are expected to be presented in May, according to the minister. (LRT/Business World Magazine)