The Baltic States and Poland will receive the maximum possible co-financing of 75% from the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) for the implementation of the main projects of the second phase of the electrical networks synchronisation project. The CEF Steering Committee has decided to allocate 720 million euro, which is 75% co-financing, to urgent electricity grid synchronisation projects, i.e. the installation of synchronous compensators in the Baltic, the modernisation of Polish electrical networks, as well as the construction of the “Harmony Link” underwater cable from Lithuania to Poland.
“The maximum result has been achieved together with Baltic and Polish colleagues. We have been appreciated in Europe, our applications have been prepared in high quality and this project is important not only at regional Baltic level but also in the EU as a whole. Moreover, by investing European funds in the arrangement of the network, AST will avoid investments that would have to be made from its own funds in the future and could have effect on transmission tariffs”, the Chairman of the Management Board of AS “Augstsprieguma tīkls” (AST) Varis Boks expresses his satisfaction with the EU decision.
Receiving CEF co-financing is one of the prerequisites for the fulfilment of the commitment by the Baltic States to disconnect from the Russian and Belarusian electrical networks in 2025 and to start synchronous work with the European networks through Poland. In total, four transmission system operators – Poland’s “PSE”, Lithuania’s “Litgrid”, Estonia’s “Elering” and Latvia’s AST received around three-quarters of this year’s total CEF budgets amounting to 998.3 million euro for energy projects. Thus, together with the first phase of the synchronisation project CEF co-financing of 324 million euro, European aid for the synchronisation of the Baltic electrical networks has already exceeded one billion EUR, which represents a record amount of support for one project at European level.
Overall, the costs of the second phase of the synchronisation project are estimated at around 1.2 billion EUR, of which 521 million EUR are planned to be invested in Poland, 462 million EUR – in Lithuania, 100 million EUR – in Latvia and 111 million EUR – in Estonia. An application to support other activities in the second phase of the synchronisation project is expected to be submitted to CEF next year.
About AS “Augstsprieguma tīkls”
About AS “Augstsprieguma tīkls” is an independent electricity transmission system operator that ensures the operation of the transmission network and the security of electricity supply of the Latvian electricity system, provides the transmission service on the basis of published transmission service tariffs, and ensures free third-party access to the transmission network. It carries out operational management of the transmission system and ensures safe and stable electricity transmission.