NordBalt power connection down for fourth time this year

On Thursday, the NordBalt electrical connections between Lithuania and Sweden shut down for the fourth time this year. The price of electricity for the next day shot up by 49.06%.

The cause of the NordBalt shutdown has yet to be identified, according to Litgrid, Lithuania’s electrical grid operator. The Nord Pool electrical market announced that the connection would remain disconnected on Friday as well, though the duration of the disconnection would only be revealed once the cause and location of the malfunction was identified.

The prices of electricity on Nord Pool‘s day-ahead market in the Lithuanian price zone jumped by 49.06% in response to the news – from €30.86/MWh to €46/MWh.

As is usually the case in such scenarios, the shutdown of the major electrical import connection prompted the Kruonis hydroelectric plant to begin operating to make up for a loss of 400 MW on the electrical grid. An additional 300 MW were provided by the LitPol Link electrical connection with Poland.

“Spring is a good time to perform electrical connection tests, when electrical consumption is on the way down and the supply is large because of spring flooding, which can ensure a supply of electricity on the market,” Daivis Virbickas, general manager of Litgrid, said in a press release.

Verslo Žinios