Baltic countries to leave joint power grid with Russia and Belarus
Adds context, quote, Litgrid statement
By Andrius Sytas
VILNIUS, July 16 (Reuters) -The power grid operators of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have signed an agreement to decouple from the Soviet-era joint BRELL power grid with Russia and Belarus in February 2025.
The three Baltic countries are still relying on Russian operators to control frequencies and balance the grid.
"We are leaving BRELL... In February, the Baltics will jointly test isolated work (of power grids) and decouple," Lithuanian Energy Minister Dainius Kreivys wrote in a post on Facebook on Tuesday.
"We have always strongly known that, like we've become part of the European Union and NATO, so we will become part of the European power system", he added.
After nearly a decade of negotiations, the Baltic countries signed an agreement in 2018 to connect their power grids to the EU by 2025.
The EU has committed a total of 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion) to prepare the region for decoupling, covering about three fourths of the costs, Lithuania's power grid operator Litgrid said in a separate statement on Tuesday.
The decoupling will take place on Feb. 8, when the Baltic states will synchronize the frequency of their grids with that in continental Europe, through a power link with Poland, Litgrid said.
($1 = 0.9179 euros)
Reporting by Andrius Sytas in Vilnius, editing by Louise Rasmussen and Emelia Sithole-Matarise
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