LitPol Link is an electricity link between

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

and

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

which connects the Baltic power systems to the Continental Europe Synchronous Area. It has a capacity of 500 MW and since 2025 operates in a synchronous regime.

History

In 2000,

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

and the

EBRD The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, shortened to EBRD ( French: ''Banque européenne pour la reconstruction et le développement'' or ''BERD''), is an international financial institution founded in 1991 in Paris. As a multilat ...

agreed to finance a feasibility study on the Poland–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 in an air crash. The aircraft carrying ...

and Lithuanian President

Valdas Adamkus Valdas Adamkus (; born Voldemaras Adamkavičius; November 3, 1926) is a Lithuanian politician, diplomat and civil engineer who served as the fifth and seventh president of Lithuania from 1998 to 2003 and again from 2004 to 2009. Adamku ...

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

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

. The memorandum of understanding to establish a joint interconnection operator was signed between

Lietuvos Energija Ignitis Group (Ignitis grupė AB; former name: Lietuvos Energija UAB) is a state-owned energy holding company located in Vilnius, Lithuania. The Group’s core business is focused on operating Lithuania’s electricity distribution network (Network ...

and Polish PSE in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

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 is a city in northeastern Poland with 61,677 inhabitants as of December 2021. It is the seat of Ełk County in the Warmian–Masurian Voivodeship. It lies on the shore of Ełk Lake, which was formed by a glacier, and is surrounded by extensiv ...

and

Łomża Łomża () is a city in north-eastern Poland, approximately to the north-east of Warsaw and west of Białystok. It is situated alongside the Narew river as part of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is the capital of Łomża County and has been the se ...

, PSE signed a contract with the Polish construction company PBE ELBUD Group on 12 September 2011. In early 2013, the Lithuanian transmission system operator Litgrid awarded

ABB Group ABB Group is a Swedish-Swiss multinational electrical engineering corporation. Incorporated in Switzerland as ABB Ltd., and headquartered in Zurich, it is dual-listed on the Nasdaq Nordic exchange in Stockholm, Sweden, and the SIX Swiss Exch ...

a $110 million contract to supply and install the first HVDC converter station in proximity of

Alytus Alytus () is a city with Town privileges, municipal rights in southern Lithuania. It is the List of cities in Lithuania, sixth-largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, 14th-largest city in the Baltic ...

, 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.

Technical features

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

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and Poland–

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

upgrades, the Polish TSO invested an additional €650 million and the Lithuanian TSO €262 million. The Lithuania–Poland interconnection has been designated an EU Trans-European Networks project. The interconnection initial capacity is 500 MW, with a transmission capacity upgrade of up to 1000 MW possible after completion of a second HVDC back-to-back station. The tower 61 near Ełk, tower 160, tower 166 (both near Suwalki), and tower 293 near Sankury, have a height of 107 metres.

HVDC Back-to-back station

Between 2015 and 2025, the line was connected to the HVDC back-to-back converter station, located in the Alytus, southwest of the existing 330 kV-substation. It had two converters each rated for 500 MW transmission power. The facility is long and wide. Following the synchronization with CESA, the line is connected to the transformers and operates in synchronous mode.

Project company

LitPol Link was founded by PSE and Litgrid with equal stakes. The company is based in Warsaw. Acting Managing Director of LitPol Link 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://archive.today/20240524211846/https://www.webcitation.org/5nXbejlX0?url=http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2008/05/19/polish_lithuanians_in_energy_venture/ , archive-date=24 May 2024 , title=Polish, Lithuanians in energy venture , agency=The Associated Press , date=19 May 2008 , access-date=24 May 2008 , url-status=dead {{cite web, 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 (abbreviated as 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 agen ...

, 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=

, 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, 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 , url=http://www.pnb.pl/clientarea/cee-businessline/239387-lithuania_poland_picks_contractor_to.html, date=14 September 2011, access-date=18 February 2013, url-access=subscription {{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=usurped {{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 language, English (as well as some articles in Russian language, Russian and for a few years in Mandarin Chinese, Mandarin). It caters to foreigners with business ...

, 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