Discussions until now were that the Baltic power networks could be synchronized with Europe by way of building a second interconnection with Poland, however, the latter has clearly declared that construction of the link would be extremely difficult due to environmental requirements, proposing the idea of building a sea link between the Lithuanian port city of Klaipeda and Wladyslawowo, a town near Gdansk. Additionally, PSE said the link could be used to connect its wind parks in the Baltic sea with the continent.
PSE CEO Eryk Klossowski last week stated that Poland was unwilling to build the second LitPol Link with Lithuania and would rather lay a sea cable from Klaipeda to Wladyslawowo.
"It is only idea and we don't have any details right now, and we don't have any study right now. If this idea will be welcomed from different Baltic TSO we will talk and discuss this idea," Beata Jarosz, spokeswoman for PSE, told.
Nevertheless, she admitted that PSE was more willing to build the sea link, as the land line might be impossible due to rigid environmental requirements.
In response to the latest PSE statement, Lithuania's power transmission system operator Litgrid said last week that synchronization could be possible with the single existing LitPol Link, if the Baltic states manage to work under isolated regime. Daivis Virbickas, Litgrid CEO, told that the sea cable has no impact in terms of synchronization, only boosting the electricity capacity.
Estonia's operator Elering also agrees that the sea link proposed by Poland would not benefit synchronization. However, the country disagrees that a single LitPol Link lin e would be enough, as the scheme would not be reliable. Ain Koster, head of communication at Elering, told Lithuania that Estonia did not rule out the possibility of synchronizing its networks with Scandinavia.
Meanwhile, Latvia's electricity transmission operator AST says that operators of all three Baltic states should agree on any version of synchronization to find the best option.
"We expect that any solution for synchronization should be adopted by all Baltic operators together and all alternatives should be discussed from financial, technical and reliability side; it's too early to talk about right decision," said AST spokesman Andris Sprogis.
Poland aims to build the sea cable not only for electricity exchange among countries but also to provide an opportunity to connect its wind parks in the Baltic Sea – the wind energy stations are developed around Wladyslawowo. Poland's energy holding Polenergia last year received a permit to build a 600 MW sea wind park in the Baltic Sea close to Gdansk, which should be launched in 2021-2022.
Karolis Sankovkis, director of the Strategic Infrastructure Department at Lithuania's Litgrid, said he had heard of the PSE plans, however, according to information in his possession, Lithuania has not received any calculations and evaluation of such electricity network. Virginijus Radziukynas, the head of the System Management and Automation Laboratory at the Lithuanian Energy Institute, said connection of the wind park could not be assessed in uniform manner, as it requires a more thorough study.
"There are pros and cons of the connection of the wind power parks. All wind power plants are managed, so in some regimes we can contribute to adjustment of the voltage of the system, however, on the other hand, there is the possibility of malfunction, and the more complex the construction is, the bigger the risk of the malfunctions, as it is more difficult to ensure balance of the power generated and consumed by the electrical energy system," he told.
In Radziukynas' words, choosing the best possible version of synchronization without studies and analyses is difficult, however, construction of two LitPol Link lines preliminarily seem the most reliable option. He explained that breakdown of a single link with Poland would stop electricity supplies – in this case, the Baltic states would have to in part operate as an island. However, with two links in place, they could replace each other in case of malfunction. Radziukynas said the sea cable, such as the NordBalt interconnection between Lithuania and Sweden was slower and does not transmit electricity in the first seconds of the breakdown.
The European Commission's Joint Research Center is completing a study and has analyzed two alternatives of ensuring the operation of the Baltic electricity systems in sync with the Western world: via Poland, via two LitPol Link lines or a single line by raising its capacity from 500 to 1,000 megawatt (MV) and via Finland by connecting it with the Nordic system. The center is due to publish its conclusions next week, however, according to information available to BNS, it has picked two-line synchronization via Poland.
