The natural gas transmission system operator Amber Grid submitted an application to the Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA), which was created by the European Commission, on the financing of a project on the enhancement of capacity of the gas transmission pipeline interconnection between Latvia and Lithuania. Amber Grid applied for project funding together with Latvian gas transmission system operator Conexus Baltic Grid.
At the end of May, the National Control Commission for Prices and Energy of Lithuania approved the project to enhance the capacity of the gas pipeline link between Lithuania and Latvia in the amount of EUR 4.7 million. It is planned that the total investment for this project will reach up to EUR 10.2 million. The construction phase of the enhancement of capacity of the gas transmission pipeline interconnection between Latvia and Lithuania is expected to receive the highest possible EU support under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) - up to 75 percent of eligible project costs. The answer on the grant shall be received this autumn.
According to CEO of AB Amber Grid Saulius Bilys, enhancing gas transmission capacities between Lithuania and Latvia would facilitate market access for Klaipėda LNG terminal, Latvian Inčukalns Underground Gas Storage Facility and, gas interconnection Poland-Lithuania (GIPL) by 2022.
‘‘By integrating the gas markets of the Baltic States into a single EU gas market, this connection will become an important part of the route linking the European and Eastern Baltic markets”, says Saulius Bilys.
The extension of the Lithuanian-Latvian interconnection would be the third project of common European interest, including a project on Klaipėda-Kiemėnai gas pipeline enhancement of capacity, and the gas pipeline interconnection between Poland and Lithuania.
In 2018 the feasibility study and the cost-benefit analysis of the project to enhance the capacity of the gas pipeline link between Lithuania and Latvia was performed. It revealed that in order to ensure the region's gas market demand and security of gas supply, larger capacities will be required after the pipeline connections between Finland and Estonia, as well as between Poland and Lithuania will be constructed.
The project to enhance the capacity of the gas pipeline between Latvia and Lithuania is planned to be implemented by the end of 2023. If the project is financed, public procurements for construction works in the territory of Lithuania would be announced and this could happen in the second half of 2020.
During the project, the capacities of the Kiemėnai gas metering station will be enhanced on the Lithuanian side and the gas pipeline at Panevėžys compressor station will be reorganized. Moreover, gas pipelines in Latvia will be modernized so that to increase the pressure from 40 to 50 bar. Investments will ensure higher capacity of the pipeline - up to 130.47 GWh per day in Latvia (now – 67,6 GWh/day) and up to 119.5 GWh per day in Lithuania (now – 65,1 GWh/day).
The project is included in the EU List of Projects of General Interest, the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas (ENTSOG) Ten-Year Development Plan, and the National Electricity and Gas Transmission Infrastructure Projects Priority Plan.
