Lithuania is planning an isolated operation test of its electricity system on Saturday

The Lithuanian system operator Litgrid is planning an isolated operation test of its electricity system on Saturday, 22 April. During the test, the Lithuanian electricity system will be isolated from the Latvian, Russian and Belarusian electricity systems for 10 hours.

Estonia and Latvia are not taking part in this particular test. The joint isolated operation test of all three Baltic States is planned to be conducted in 2025 at the latest after all the investments have been made for the synchronisation with the electricity system of Continental Europe, and all the new power lines, synchronous compensators, control devices and other equipment have been installed and prepared.

“The purpose of the joint isolated operation test is to verify the preparedness of all the new equipment to be added to the Baltic electricity system for synchronous operation with the Continental European electricity system. As of now, the projects for the investments to be made in Estonia in the volume of nearly 350 million euros are pending and before their completion, we do not see an essential objective for an Estonian isolated operation test. There is nothing to test yet,” said Taavi Veskimägi, Chairman of the Management Board of Elering.

The Lithuanian isolated operation test will not significantly affect the operation of the Estonian electricity system. However, Elering, in cooperation with our neighbouring countries as well as domestically, is taking additional measures in order to further reduce any possible risks during the Lithuanian isolated operation test. In order to ensure the security of operation of the system, the Estonian-Finnish and Estonian-Latvian interconnections will be working at reduced capacities during the Lithuanian isolated operation test.

According to Timo Tatar, Deputy Secretary General for Energy and Mineral Resources at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications of Estonia, the level of supply and demand for electricity in our region during the autumn/winter period was at a fine line, but by now, the situation regarding the security of supply of electricity has improved significantly. “Spring is definitely a more favourable period of time in terms of electricity – consumption has decreased and there is sufficient production capacity on the market. The new reactor in the Finnish Olkiluoto Nuclear Power Plant has commenced operation. Thanks to the limited spring flooding, Latvia is generating sufficient hydropower, and Estonia is experiencing the highest production capacities of renewable energy of all times. Therefore, no issues should come about in relation to the availability of electricity,” said Tatar.

Lithuania has previously also conducted isolated operation tests of its electricity system. It was last planned in autumn last year, but then postponed to this spring. The Lithuanian system operator announced the date of the planned test in December and updated the information a week ago. The respective stock market notices are available on the website of Nord Pool: https://umm.nordpoolgroup.com/#/messages/ee371a32-4918-4ce2-8ed1-c0ddf57888b2/1, https://umm.nordpoolgroup.com/#/messages/ee371a32-4918-4ce2-8ed1-c0ddf57888b2/2