Lithuania: Belarusian electricity no longer arriving
Electricity produced at Belarus’ Astravyets nuclear power plant is no longer entering the Lithuanian market, Energy Minister Dainius Kreivys said on October 7.
“I am 110% sure of this,” the minister said at the Seimas Energy and Sustainable Development Commission’s meeting.
Lithuanian officials maintain that the Astravyets NPP, built some 50 kilometers from Vilnius by the Russian state nuclear agency Rosatom, is unsafe. The Seimas has passed a so-called anti-Astravyets law that allowed the country barring market access to electricity produced in Belarus.
But data from Lithuania’s power transmission system operator Litgrid showed that electricity produced at Astravyets, worth around 16 million euros, was traded in the country between January 1 and May 24.
Lithuania, the only Baltic country to have a direct electricity connection with Belarus, failed to reach a joint agreement with Latvia and Estonia to bar Astravyets electricity from entering the regional market.
“Negotiations with Latvia and Estonia were sluggish,” Kreivys said. “The government thus decided to approve our own methodology.”
The methodology involved taking over control of power interconnections with Belarus, which helped to block Astravyets electricity from Lithuania’s market.
According to the minister, Latvia and Estonia were discontented with such a decision. But Lithuania will continue to engage in negotiations with its Baltic neighbours, hoping to establish a tripartite methodology, Kreivys said. (LRT/Business World Magazine)