Baltic states seek to disconnect from Russian power grid

The prime ministers of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania signed a joint declaration on Thursday agreeing to disconnect from the Russian electricity grid no later than early 2025, the press service of the Estonian government reported. 

The Baltic nations, which are all members of NATO and the EU, remain part of the BRELL circuit along with countries such as Russia and Belarus. In 2018, they agreed to decouple from BRELL and join an alternative power grid known as ENTSO-E by late 2025, via a link with Poland. Founded in 2008 by EU mandate, the network now extends beyond the bloc's borders to include 35 countries.

“It is important for the Baltics to work together in speeding up the synchronization effort, which allows us to further manage risks,” Estonian PM Kaja Kallas stated. “The prime ministers and I have agreed that we will desynchronize from the Russian (BRELL circuit) grid as soon as it is technically possible,” she added.

Analyses by Baltic transmission system operators (TSOs) show that the three states will have the technical capacity for the switch by early 2025, Kallas explained, noting that it means synchronization could be brought forward by roughly one year. Until then, Baltic and Polish TSOs will reportedly continue rendering their systems more robust, which is necessary to mitigate risks of outages and price hikes.

The Baltic states have repeatedly claimed that dependency on the Moscow-controlled BRELL network creates a potential threat if Russia ‘weaponizes’ its electricity supply and disconnects them from the network ahead of the planned exit. Reuters reported last June that European grid operators had expressed readiness to bring the Baltic nations into ENTSO-E at short notice in the event that Moscow cuts them off.

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