Riga, Latvia. The Baltic states had planned on having their own power grid operational by 2025, but in a fit of new cold war paranoia, are now pushing to complete the project by the end of the year, in turn being wholy dependent on the European Union for power.
The Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania will connect their power grids to the European Union network through Poland, in order to reduce their dependence on Russia in the event of hostilities breaking out.
German media sources report that Estonian Prime Minister of Jüri Ratas announced this on Monday as part of a new Baltic initiative to create an independent power structure by the end of this year (2017). “All four of us have agreed to clarify the distribution responsibilities between the four countries Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and our Polish partner by the end of the year,” said Ratas.
During the construction of the new grid network, it will also be necessary to take into account that the region of Kaliningrad is synchronized with the Russian electricity network through the Baltic countries.
The disconnection from the Russian network was originally planned by 2025, but was postponed over a discussion regarding whether the point of connection to the European network would be Poland, or Finland (via an underwater electrical cable). In the end, the connection through Poland was deemed more expedient economically, according to EU power experts.
While no emergency need currently exists, Russia having never cut off electricity to the Baltic countries, and has not even threatened to do so; at the same time, Lithuania regards the fact of its energy dependence on Russia as one of its main national security threats and pushed heavily for the independent grid.