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    Lithuania Approves Grid Development Plan

Summary

Some €216mn will be spent on grid development between 2020 and 2024.

by: Joe Murphy

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Lithuania Approves Grid Development Plan

Lithuania's National Energy Regulatory Council on October 1 approved gas transmission system operator Amber Grid's ten-year network development plan (TYNDP, 2020-2029), the latter said in a statement.

The plan will involve €216mn ($253mn) of investments between 2020 and 2024, the bulk of which will be spent this year and next. The sum needed in 2025-2029 is yet to be determined.

Around €129mn will go towards completing the Lithuanian section of the Gas Interconnection Poland-Lithuania (GIPL) by the end of 2021. Lithuania broke ground in February on the gas link, which will connect the Baltic and Finnish grids with the rest of the European system for the first time. It will enable the Baltic States and Finland to tap gas from Poland's Swinoujscie LNG import terminal and give Poland access to the Incukalns gas storage facility in Latvia.

The pipeline will be able to pump 2.4bn m3/yr of gas to Lithuania and 1.9bn m3/yr to Poland. 

A further €82mn ($96mn) will be spent on general reconstruction and modernisation of the Lithuanian grid, including work on pipelines, metering and compressor stations. Some €4.7mn will be allocated for increasing the capacity of a gas link with Latvia. 

Europe's grid operators are obliged to produce TYNDPs as part of their regulated workload, and they are updated regularly.