By the end of the year, Conexus will conclude 5 projects of international interest with investments of €0.95 million

Within the framework of the European project “Improving the Latvian-Lithuanian Interconnection” (ELLI), the joint natural gas transmission and storage system operator “Conexus Baltic Grid” (Conexus) intends to close 5 sub-projects by the end of the year, bringing their total investment to EUR 0.95 million.

All activities are carried out within the framework of the Latvian-Lithuanian Interconnection Improvement Project, which has been recognised as a European project of common interest. It is implemented by the end of 2023 to increase transmission capacity in both directions approximately 2 times. As part of the project, Latvia has to carry out 17 sub-projects, of which 4 have been implemented for a given moment, but by the end of the year the number of projects will reach 5. On the other hand, 12 projects are in the implementation phase.

The implementation of two projects is currently active, one of which involves the conversion of the cross-border transmission gas pipeline, Vireši-Tallinn-T6, with a total investment of €560 thousand, and will continue in the first half of next year. It is also expected to close the complex diagnosis of the transmission gas pipeline by the end of the year by investing €93 thousand.

It is important that the refurbishment of Vireši-Tallinn T6 is carried out in Latvia in an unprecedented way - a process of cutting under gas pressure is being carried out, without disrupting the gas supply which has not been carried out until now for such a diameter gas pipeline in the Latvian gas transmission system. In addition, it is carried out by local specialists from the Conexus Gas Transmission Line Operations Service.

Ivars Cibuļskis, Head of Gas Transmission: “The Latvian-Lithuanian interconnection improvement project is needed to make the system more flexible and able to meet regional gas market demand and guarantee security of gas supply in interstate connections. This will strengthen Latvia's position in the region's energy market, as it will facilitate access to Inchualns' underground gas storage. At the same time, this cross-border project demonstrates that the Latvian transmission system is not detached from other gas infrastructures in the region and the importance of the integrated development path. Such projects are very time-consuming and investment-intensive, so their joint implementation makes it possible to invest effectively and to carry out the project at a much faster pace."

Until now, under the Latvian-Lithuanian interconnection project, Conexus has closed 4 sub-projects: attachment tap No. Reconstruction of iz-427 with investment of EUR 95 thousand, conversion of tap 1PI to gas control station Palsmane with investments of EUR 240 thousand, conversion of transmission gas pipeline branch GRS Valmiera-1 with investments of EUR 410 thousand, and an assessment of the transmission gas pipeline system to increase pressure by EUR 50 by investing EUR 112 thousand.

At the time the whole project is completed, the gas transmission system will be able to accept more pressure from both the storage and the entry points of the border states Lithuania, Estonia and Russia.

The total cost of the project is estimated at €9.77 million, of which the costs of the Conexus project are set at €5.50 million, while the Lithuanian natural gas transmission system operator Amber Grid is €4.27 million, while the co-financing of the Connecting Europe Facility is set at 50%.