OREANDA-NEWS. On 29 January 2009 was announced, that in the next few years following the closure of the nuclear power plant at Ignalina and the increased shortage of power plants, successful co-operation among the Baltic States in providing the region’s electricity will become increasingly important.

Latvenergo AS believes that it is vitally important to address issues of regional importance through close co-operation, the priority being to ensure that the Baltic States are a competitive region.

According to Latvenergo AS ( Latvenergo) Chairman of the Management Board, Kвrlis Miнelsons: “Latvenergo believes that to ensure far-sighted and secure functioning of the electricity supply system, entrusting the solution of professional issues to the industry’s specialists is vital, because politicians will only be able to make appropriate decisions in accordance with the verdicts provided by experts. The most important thing right now is to ensure that the interconnections among Latvia’s, Lithuania’s and Estonia’s power grids operate faultlessly and the development of connections between the Baltic and neighbouring states.”

As the leader in improving the electricity market in the Baltic States, Latvenergo AS believes that as the market in the other Baltic countries also opens up, the issue of free retailing of electricity to other countries in the region with whom our power grid connections are currently inadequate will become increasingly important.

Latvenergo believes that Transmission System operators (TSO – high voltage electricity network management organisations) must have expertise that is professional and is free of any local considerations. Only then will all countries be able to deal with the important challenges of the future. Therefore, Latvenergo is calling for the prioritisation of joint regional approaches to energy issues that are vital to the development of the Baltic States over the short-term approaches of individual countries.

Established in 2006, BALTSO is the highest-level institution responsible for ensuring co-operation among power transmission systems in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania and resolving the main issues connected with the parallel operation of energy systems in the Baltic States. BALTSO’s main operating goals are ensuring the effective, harmonised and safe functioning of the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian electricity markets, as well as co-ordinating and planning the development of the relevant transmission systems. The organisation’s membership is exclusively restricted to legal entities which have received electricity transmission licences in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.