As part of consolidating the energy independence and strengthening the Baltic gas market integration, Lithuania is launching another strategic project for the Enhancement of Lithuania–Latvia Interconnection (ELLI). The gas transmission system operator Amber Grid has signed the contract worth EUR 2.8 million with the energy contracting company MT Group awarded the public contract for reconstruction of Kiemėnai Gas Metering Station, one of the contract work stages under the ELLI project.
The upgrading of Kiemėnai gas metering station, the gas entry-exit point at the Lithuanian-Latvian border, will be carried out under the contract. The completion of contract works is scheduled for the second quarter of 2023 and the ELLI project is expected to be finished by 2024.
“The ELLI project is one more project enhancing the Baltic gas market integration. It also strengthens the security and reliability of gas supply in the region. By increasing gas transmission capacity between Lithuania and Latvia, we will provide the market with more flexible access to Klaipėda LNG terminal, Latvian Inčukalns underground gas storage facility and the new GIPL connecting with Poland. The developed strong gas infrastructure chain will allow the transmission of larger gas flows from the European continent to Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland and vice versa,” says Nemunas Biknius, Amber Grid CEO.
The project has received funding from the European Commission’s Climate, Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (CINEA). The total investment by Lithuania and Latvia for this project will be EUR 10.2 million. Lithuania’s investment in the project will amount to EUR 4.7 million, of which EUR 2.1 million will be covered by the European Commission under the Connecting Europe Facility.
The contract works on the Lithuanian side will include the reconstruction of Kiemėnai gas metering station and the installation of new modern equipment meeting the highest requirements. Subsequently, the second part of the project will include the reconstruction of the gas pipeline to Panevėžys gas compressor station. In Latvia, the main gas pipeline reconstruction works will be performed to increase the maximum operating pressure to 50 bars. The project is carried out by the Lithuanian and Latvian transmission system operators Amber Grid and Conexus Baltic Grid.
The investment is expected to double the interconnection capacity up to 130.5 gigawatt hours (GWh) per day in the Latvian direction and up to 119.5 GWh per day in the Lithuanian direction. The project will create capacity to transport up to 47.6 terawatt hours (TWh) of gas per year to Latvia and up to 43.6 TWh per year to Lithuania.
The strategic energy project ELLI is included in the EU List of Projects of Common Interest, the Ten-Year Development Plan of the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas (ENTSOG), and the National Key Electricity and Gas Transmission Projects Implementation Plan.
This will be Amber Grid’s third strategic energy project after Klaipėda–Kuršėnai gas pipeline connection completed in 2015, and the GIPL with Poland, finished at the end of 2021.
