Baltic countries notify Russia and Belarus they will exit the Moscow-controlled electricity grid
The electricity grid operators of the three Baltic countries on Tuesday officially notified Russia and Belarus that they will exit a 2001 agreement that has kept Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania connected to an electricity transmission system controlled b...
VILNIUS, Lithuania — The electricity grid operators of the three Baltic countries on Tuesday officially notified Russia and Belarus that they will exit a 2001 agreement that has kept Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania connected to an electricity transmission system controlled by Moscow.
The Baltic countries have already stopped buying electricity from Russia. And in a plan announced last year as part of moves to sever ties with Moscow following its invasion of Ukraine, they will shift their grid connections next February to the main continental European energy network in a move to end reliance.
Utility operators Elering of Estonia, AST of Latvia and Litgrid of Lithuania said that the exit notice was signed in the Latvian capital of Riga on Tuesday. The joint agreement with Moscow and Minsk will end Feb. 7, and the Baltic systems will be disconnected from the grid the next day.
“We will disconnect and dismantle the last physical connections with Russian and Belarusian grids,” Litgrid CEO Rokas Masiulis said, calling the move an “ambitious energy independence project.”
The three former Soviet republics do not currently buy electricity from Russia, but remain physically connected to a grid in which the electricity frequency is controlled by Moscow under the 2001 BRELL agreement. The Baltic systems plan to synchronize with the continental European system on Feb. 9, 2025. Both systems use 50 Hz alternating current.
“Synchronization with Continental Europe Synchronous Area will
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