Dec 8, 2006, 16:04 GMT
Vilnius - European Union partners Lithuania and Poland agreed Friday to hook up their power grids in a bid to improve regional energy security by creating an energy link between Baltic states and Western Europe.
Lithuania's state-owned Lietuvos Energija (LE) concluded the deal with Poland's state-owned energy Polskie Sieci Elektroenergetyczne (PSE) to build the 'energy bridge', the Baltic News Service reported.
It was estimated the project will cost some 300 million euro. EU funding was expected to cover part. Lithuania plans to complete its end of project by 2011, while Poland forecasts construction to end between 20-15-2020.
Since they joined the EU in 2004, Baltic states Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have formed an 'energy island' within Europe. A legacy of their Soviet past, their power infrastructure - both electricity and gas - is hooked into CIS networks, but not into the EU.
The new 'energy bridge' is intended to ensure the Baltic states will be hooked into Western European power grids.
It will also provide the possibility of transferring power generated at a planned new nuclear reactor at Lithuania's Ignalina facility to nuclear-free neighbour Poland.
Leaders of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania also agreed in Vilnius Friday in Vilnius to push ahead with the Ignalina project to replace the existing Soviet-era reactor due to be shut down in 2009.
Poland has also been invited to invest in the project.
The Ignalina plant - a twin to the ill-fated Chernobyl reactor - is a key supplier of Baltic energy.
This Monday, meanwhile, the Baltic trio, in collaboration with two Finnish firms, inaugurated an undersea electricity cable from Estonia to Finland.
Last-minute problems mean that the cable is not yet commercially operational, but it is expected to open by the weekend.
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