OREANDA-NEWS. On the initiative of Poland, a meeting in Vilnius has been held between the top management and working groups of Lietuvos Energija and Polska Grupa Energetyczna (formerly - Polskie Sieci Elektroenergetyczne) (Poland), during which the parties coordinated their positions regarding the implementation of the power bridge project between Lithuania and Poland, reported the press-centre of Lietuvos Energija.  

According to the management of the Polish power company, the power bridge project will be commercially feasible provided that the Polish side owns 1000 - 1200 MW capacity of the new nuclear power plant.     

”However, the new nuclear power plant project is international, involving four countries willing to participate in its implementation and therefore all issues related to it must also be coordinated with other partners of the project - Latvia and Estonia“, - says Mr.Rymantas Juozaitis, General Director of Lietuvos Energija AB. According to him, so far the capacity of the projected new nuclear power plant is unknown and it will only be clear after the completion of the environmental impact assessment and procurement process.

The parties agreed that some more time is needed to seek reciprocally beneficial ways of electricity trade via the future power bridge prior and after the implementation of the new nuclear power plant project.

The interconnection between power systems includes the construction of 154 km high-voltage (400 kV) double-circuit power transmission line from Alytus to Elk (Poland). The preliminary completion of the project is foreseen in 2012.

 Its implementation will need Eur237 million of investments - Eur71 million for works in Polish territory and Eur166 million - Lithuanian territory.

In order to ensure transmission capacity and cross-border flows between both countries it is necessary to develop both - Lithuanian and Polish domestic power grids.

This will require additional investments - Eur371 million in Poland and Eur95 million in Lithuania.

The investments for development of domestic power grids must be provided by transmission system operators of each country.

The project has been enlisted among priority projects of the European Union, a coordinator has been appointed for its implementation.