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Lithuania Reduces the Electricity Transfer Capacity with Belarus

Lithuania Reduces the Electricity Transfer Capacity with Belarus

It relates to the decision of the Lithuanian parliament to prohibit the purchase and transfer of energy from the BelNPP.

Litgrid, the operator of the Lithuanian electricity networks, has decided to reduce the maximum transfer capacity of its power grids with Belarus, the BP website reports.

"By this measure, Lithuania seeks to ensure that the country's electricity lines are not used for trade-in power generated in Belarus, and to block the path of electricity generated by unsafe nuclear power plants in third countries," reads the report of Litgrid.

Vilnius believes the Belarusian NPP in Astravets was built with violations of international requirements in the field of nuclear energy. The Seimas had previously declared BelNPP a threat to Lithuanian national security and legally banned the purchase and transit of its electricity through Lithuanian networks.

In November 2020, BelNPP was added to the energy system of the country. After that, Vilnius revoked licenses to import electricity from Belarus. Riga and Tallinn were offered to join the boycott. The neighbours supported the initiative. However, it is not that easy to do technically.

In the unified energy flow, it is difficult to define the place of electricity generation. It was reported that Russian companies buy electricity, including BelNPP, and then it goes to the regional power exchange via intermediary structures in Latvia and Estonia.

"Latvian and Estonian operators apply their methodology on connections with Russia and use Lithuania's infrastructure to import electricity from third countries, so we have taken specific steps to block this way," said Litgrid head Rokas Masiulis.

The transfer capacity is planned to be reduced from 1,250 to 400 megawatts from September 15. The Lithuanian operator has notified the same companies in the countries participating in the unified energy system, i.e. Belarus, Russia, Estonia and Latvia.

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