Lithuanian president calls on government to continue ongoing energy projects

“At the moment, I think that these projects are an achievable task for the current government in the coming years and that they should carry on with these projects,” she said at her annual news conference.

“First of all, we must use the projects that are currently underway and complete them. That is, to build the natural gas and electricity links to Sweden and Poland and reinforce the gas interconnections between the Baltic countries and with Poland. These are the projects that are currently at the top of the list and have to be carried out,” Grybauskaitė said.

“Synchronization (of the power grid) with the Western market, Western electricity networks is also in view and is a strategic project,” she said.

A 347-million-euro power interconnection between Lithuania and Poland, known as LitPol Link, will link together the energy systems of the Baltic Sea region by the end of 2015, thus eliminating energy islands in the European Union. A 550-million-euro, 700-megawatt interconnection between Lithuanian and Sweden, known as NordBalt, is also to be completed by the end of this year.

The European Commission last October assigned a top priority status to a 534-kilometer natural gas pipeline between Lithuania and Poland. The pipeline, estimated to cost around 558 million euros, should be designed and built in 2015-2018.

Lithuania last December completed a key liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal project. The Klaipėda LNG facility, the first of its kind in the Baltic countries, ended Lithuania’s total dependence on gas supplies from Russia’s Gazprom, which last May significantly reduced its gas price for the country after years of pressure.