LitPol Link is an electricity link between

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

and Lithuania which connects the Baltic

transmission system :''See Transmission (mechanics) for a car's transmission system'' In telecommunications, a transmission system is a system that transmits a signal from one place to another. The signal can be an electrical, optical or radio signal. Some transmissi ...

to the

synchronous grid of Continental Europe The synchronous grid of Continental Europe (also known as Continental Synchronous Area; formerly known as the UCTE grid) is the largest synchronous electrical grid (by connected power) in the world. It is interconnected as a single phase-locked ...

. It has a capacity of 500 MW and since 2021 it can operate in a synchronous regime.

History

In 2000,

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...

and the

EBRD The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is an international financial institution founded in 1991. As a multilateral developmental investment bank, the EBRD uses investment as a tool to build market economies. Initially foc ...

agreed to finance a feasibility study on the

– Lithuania transmission interconnection. The study was completed in September 2002. The connection is expected to increase Poland's electricity interconnection level from 2% to 4%. Parts of LitPol are on the EU "Projects of Common Interest" list in November 2015. On 29 September 2006 Polish President

Lech Kaczyński Lech Aleksander Kaczyński (; 18 June 194910 April 2010) was a Polish politician who served as the city mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 2005, and as President of Poland from 2005 until his death in 2010. Before his tenure as president, he pre ...

and Lithuanian President

Valdas Adamkus Valdas Adamkus (; born Voldemaras Adamkavičius; 3 November 1926) is a Lithuanian-American politician, diplomat and civil engineer. He served as the 5th and 7th President of Lithuania from 1998 to 2003 and again from 2004 to 2009. Adamkus' ...

signed a joint declaration on the joint power grid project during their meeting in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

. The memorandum of understanding to establish a joint interconnection operator was signed between Lietuvos Energija and Polish

PSE-Operator Polskie Sieci Elektroenergetyczne S.A. (abbreviated PSE) is an electricity transmission system operator in Poland and the sole operator of the country's high-voltage transmission lines. It is 100% owned by the State Treasury. Until 2007, PSE wa ...

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

on 8 December 2006. Project Company Shareholding Agreement signed on 12 February 2008 in Warsaw. The joint project company LitPol Link was founded on 19 May 2008. Aiming to build a 400 kV overhead line between

Ełk Ełk (; former pl, Łek; german: Lyck; Old Prussian: ''Luks''; lt, Lukas), also spelled Elk in English, is a small city in northeastern Poland with 61,677 inhabitants as of December 2021. It was assigned to Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship in 1999, ...

and

Łomża Łomża (), in English known as Lomza, is a city in north-eastern Poland, approximately 150 kilometers (90 miles) to the north-east of Warsaw and west of Białystok. It is situated alongside the Narew river as part of the Podlaskie Voivodeship ...

PSE-Operator signed a contract with the Polish construction company PBE ELBUD Group on 12 September 2011. During start of 2013 Lithuanian transmission system operator

Litgrid Litgrid AB is a Lithuanian electricity transmission system operator that operates Lithuania's electricity transmission grid. Litgrid is responsible for the integration of the Lithuanian electricity system into the European electricity infrastruct ...

awarded

ABB Group ABB Ltd. is a Swedish- Swiss multinational corporation headquartered in Zürich, Switzerland. The company was formed in 1988 when Sweden's Allmänna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget (ASEA) and Switzerland's Brown, Boveri & Cie merged to crea ...

a $110 million contract to supply and install the first HVDC converter station in proximity of Alytus, Lithuania. Construction of the link commenced in the Alytus district on 5 May 2014. LitPol electricity link started operations on 9 December 2015 the same day transmitting up to 200 MW power from Poland to Lithuania. The second part of project (another 500 MW capacity link) is planned to have a different route through

Marijampolė Marijampolė (; also known by several other names) is a cultural and industrial city and the capital of the Marijampolė County in the south of Lithuania, bordering Poland and Russian Kaliningrad Oblast, and Lake Vištytis. The population of Mar ...

. The full plan of second part was scheduled to be reviewed at the end of 2016.Šiaurės rytų Lenkija įvertino „LitPol Link“ naudą
/ref>

Technical features

The interconnection represents double circuit 330 kV line Kruonis–Alytus, 1000 MW back-to-back converter in Alytus and double circuit 400 kV line from Alytus to the Lithuania–Poland border on Lithuanian side and double circuit 400 kV line border–Ełk on Polish side. According to the pre-feasibility study cost of the interconnection estimated €237 million. With the intention to enhance existing energy infrastructure including Poland–

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and Poland–

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

upgrades, in addition, Polish TSO invested €650 million and Lithuanian TSO €262 million. Lithuania–Poland interconnection has been listed as an EU

Trans-European Networks The Trans-European Networks (TEN) were created by the European Union by Articles 154–156 of the Treaty of Rome (1957), with the stated goals of the creation of an internal market and the reinforcement of economic and social cohesion. To various ...

project. The interconnection initial capacity is 500 MW with transmission capacity upgrade up to 1000 MW possible after completion of second HVDC back-to-back station. The tower 61 near Elk, the tower 160, the tower 166 (both near Suwalki) and the tower 293 near Sankury have a height of 107 metres.

HVDC Back-to-back station

The Alytus HVDC back-to-back station is located southwest of the existing 330 kV-substation which has been extended as well. It consists of two converters each rated for 500 MW transmission power. The facility is long and wide.

Project company

LitPol Link was founded by PSE-Operator and

with equal stakes. The company is based in Warsaw. Acting Managing Director of LitPol Link Mr. Artūras Vilimas.

References

{{reflist, 30em, refs= {{cite news , url=http://alfa.lt/straipsnis/c73415 , title="Power bridge" deal finalised, newspaper=The Baltic Times, date=24 May 2008, access-date=24 May 2008 {{cite news, url=http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2008/05/19/polish_lithuanians_in_energy_venture/ , archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/5nXbejlX0?url=http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2008/05/19/polish_lithuanians_in_energy_venture/ , archive-date=14 February 2010 , title=Polish, Lithuanians in energy venture , agency=The Associated Press , date=19 May 2008 , access-date=24 May 2008 , url-status=dead {{cite journal, url=http://www.baltrel.com/Seminars/Vilnius071023/Baltrel%20wilno%2023_10_2007_v3a_final.ppt, format=PPT, title=Current status of the LitPol project, first=Zygmunt, last=Mozer, publisher=PSE SA, date=23 October 2007, access-date=24 May 2008, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707210050/http://www.baltrel.com/Seminars/Vilnius071023/Baltrel%20wilno%2023_10_2007_v3a_final.ppt, archive-date=7 July 2011, url-status=dead {{cite news, url=https://www.forbes.com/afxnewslimited/feeds/afx/2008/02/12/afx4646091.html, title=Lithuania, Poland sign power deal, spurring nuclear plan, work=Forbes, date=12 February 2008, access-date=16 February 2008, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604005939/http://www.forbes.com/feeds/afx/2008/02/12/afx4646091.html, archive-date=4 June 2011 {{cite news, url=http://news.monstersandcritics.com/energywatch/news/article_1206365.php/Poland_Lithuania_agree_to_hook_up_power_grids, title=Poland, Lithuania agree to hook up power grids, agency=

Deutsche Presse-Agentur Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH (dpa) is a German news agency founded in 1949. Based in Hamburg, it has grown to be a major worldwide operation serving print media, radio, television, online, mobile phones, and national news agencies. News is ava ...

, date=29 September 2006, access-date=16 February 2008, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120717062807/http://news.monstersandcritics.com/energywatch/news/article_1206365.php/Poland_Lithuania_agree_to_hook_up_power_grids, archive-date=17 July 2012, url-status=dead {{Cite web, title=Lithuanian power system and integration into European Union electricity market, first=Vladas, last=Paškevičius, publisher= Lietuvos Energija, url=http://events.le.lt/uploads/File/20060126/Paskev_2006%2001%2026%20Power%20system%20and%20el%20market%20VP%20final%204.ppt, format=PPT, date=26 January 2006, access-date=16 February 2008, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071008040410/http://events.le.lt/uploads/File/20060126/Paskev_2006%2001%2026%20Power%20system%20and%20el%20market%20VP%20final%204.ppt, archive-date=8 October 2007, url-status=dead {{cite news, url=http://www.power-eng.com/articles/2008/02/poland-lithuania-clinch-power-link-deal.html, title=Poland, Lithuania clinch power link deal, publisher=

PennWell Corporation Endeavor Business Media is an American business-to-business media company founded by Chris Ferrell and others in December 2017. The company is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a l ...

, work=Power Engineering International, date=13 February 2008, access-date=16 February 2008 {{cite journal, url=http://ec.europa.eu/energy/infrastructure/doc/2009_bemip_a9017214-cesi-interconn-ec-phase_i-final-june_2009.pdf, title=Phase I: present status of the electricity sector in the EU Member States surrounding the Baltic Sea, including Norway, Belarus, Kaliningrad region and Ukraine; main gaps and bottlenecks, qualitative assessment of new interconnection projects, publisher=

, journal=Centro Elettrotecnico Sperimentale Italiano Giacinto Motta SpA, date=June 2009, access-date=15 May 2010 {{Cite news, title=Poland picks contractor to build power link with Lithuania, work=

Polish News Bulletin The Polish News Bulletin (PNB) is an English-language publishing house headquartered in Warsaw, the capital of Poland. Its main issues consist of political and economic press digests. PNB publications are used as business intelligence by diplom ...

, url=http://www.pnb.pl/clientarea/cee-businessline/239387-lithuania_poland_picks_contractor_to.html, date=14 September 2011, access-date=18 February 2013, id={{subscription required {{Cite web, title=Back-to-back station, publisher=Litpol Link, url=http://www.litpol-link.com/en/project/technical-solution/back-to-back-station-/, access-date=23 February 2012, archive-url=https://archive.today/20130128071516/http://www.litpol-link.com/en/project/technical-solution/back-to-back-station-/, archive-date=28 January 2013, url-status=dead {{cite news, url=http://www.lithuaniatribune.com/29809/abb-to-install-500mw-high-voltage-converter-station-in-lithuania-201329809/, title=ABB to install 500 MW high-voltage converter station in Lithuania, work=

The Lithuania Tribune Lithuania Tribune is an online news portal providing news about Lithuania in English (and for a few years in Mandarin). It caters to foreigners with business and diplomatic interests in Lithuania, as well as the Lithuanian diaspora. Partnership ...

, date=18 February 2013, access-date=18 February 2013, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303231450/http://www.lithuaniatribune.com/29809/abb-to-install-500mw-high-voltage-converter-station-in-lithuania-201329809/, archive-date=3 March 2016, url-status=dead

External links

LitPol Link
on

Archive.org The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...