The Baltic power transmission system operators on July 16 notified Russia and Belarus of the non-extension of the so-called BRELL contract and their withdrawal from the Moscow-controlled post-Soviet electricity system as of February 2025.
Lithuania’s Litgrid, Latvia’s AST and Estonia’s Elering “have notified Russian and Belarusian operators on the non-extension of the BRELL agreement, which is bound to expire in February 2025”, the Lithuanian TSO said in a press release.
“At that time, the three Baltic States will decouple from the Russian and Belarusian grids to join the Continental Europe Synchronous Area,” it said, adding that the synchronisation was planned for February 9, 2025.
“This is a very important milestone for synchronisation, which is the most ambitious energy independence project in the Baltic States,” Litgrid CEO Rokas Masiulis said in the press release. “This is the moment when we can point to a specific date, on which we will cut the final ties with Russia in the energy sector.”
“We already have no commercial relations, and in six months, we will disconnect and dismantle the last physical connections with Russian and Belarusian grids,” he added.
In August 2023, the Baltic prime ministers signed a declaration committing to the synchronisation of the Baltic electricity grids with Western Europe until February 2025. The commitment was confirmed in December 2023 in a declaration signed by the European Commission and the Baltic and Polish energy ministers.
Earlier, synchronisation with Europe was scheduled for the end of 2025. (LRT)