Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have successfully synchronised their electricity systems with the Continental Europe Synchronous Area on 9 February 2025 at 2:05 PM. This is a key milestone for the Baltic States and for Europe strengthening the energy resilience and independence across the region.

The synchronisation enables the Baltic States to manage their electricity grids in close cooperation with all other Continental European countries, with stable and reliable frequency control, significantly enhancing regional energy security. Previously relying on the Russian IPS/UPS system for frequency management, the Baltic States have now joined the synchronous grid of Continental Europe, serving over 400 million customers. All electricity interconnections with Russia and Belarus have been permanently disconnected.

This process follows years of meticulous preparation and collaboration among the Baltic States transmission system operators (TSOs): Elering (Estonia), Augstsprieguma tīkls (AST, Latvia), Litgrid (Lithuania), and their counterparts in Continental Europe Synchronous Area. A particularly important role of PSE in Poland was the overall coordination and project management, as a direct neighbour and the system which physically connects the Baltic States’ systems to Continental Europe. Extensive infrastructure upgrades in the Baltic States and Poland were instrumental in enabling this achievement.

Prime Minister of the Republic of Latvia Evika Siliņa: "This is a very significant day for Latvia's energy security and independence. Together with Estonia and Lithuania, we have successfully joined the European energy grid. This is a historic moment – we have irreversibly disconnected from the energy systems of Russia and Belarus. This achievement is the result of long and thorough work. Thank you to all the specialists, energy sector professionals, institutions, and partners who have contributed immense effort so that today we can be part of the European energy grid. The next steps will be related to system modernization, expanding the use of renewable energy, and strengthening regional security."

Minister for Climate and Energy of the Republic of Latvia Kaspars Melnis: “The long-awaited moment has arrived; we are in a single heartbeat of electricity with Europe. The Baltic States have joined the European energy grid. Together, supporting each other, we have taken a physically imperceptible, but historically significant step. This is an important day for Latvia’s energy security and energy independence! The result achieved confirms our ability to successfully implement an ambitious energy security project not only at the national level, but also in the entire Baltics. I am pleased with the successful process, where great merit goes to the operators of the Baltic States, with special thanks to AS “Augstsprieguma tīkls” for their work invested over the past 15 years. We would like to thank all the institutions involved and cooperation partners for their professional work, ensuring that the synchronization process ran smoothly and without hitches this weekend. The Baltic States are ready to continue working together to increase the availability of production capacities in the region.”

Chairman of the Management Board of the Latvian Transmission System Operator JSC "Augstsprieguma tīkls" Rolands Irklis: "With the Baltic states joining Europe—the world's largest energy system—we have become energy independent and have completely severed historical energy ties with Russia. Similar to Latvia’s accession to NATO and the European Union, joining the European synchronous zone is another logical and necessary step for our country and the entire Baltic region to further integrate with Europe and Western democracies.

In recent years, together with Lithuanian and Estonian grid operators and with significant funding from the European Union, we have upgraded and rebuilt more than 500 kilometers of high-voltage transmission lines in Latvia, installed synchronous compensators and high-capacity battery systems.

The Baltic power balancing market has also now begun operations, ensuring competitive balancing costs and providing Latvian companies the opportunity to participate in this international market.

Synchronization is the result of a major collective effort—thanks to Latvia’s state institutions, the Ministry of Climate and Energy, the European Commission, our colleagues from Litgrid and Elering, and especially the employees of AST."

The Baltic States electricity systems enter Continental Europe Synchronous Area after disconnecting from Russia-controlled IPS / UPS system on 09:09 AM on Saturday, February 8, and successfully completing the isolated operation test.

This synchronisation has been strongly supported by the European Union and ENTSO-E, the association of European electricity TSOs. Their contributions included technical guidance, operational and legal expertise.

The synchronisation project is implemented with the co-financing of the European Union.

About AS Augstsprieguma tīkls

AST is Latvia's power transmission system operator, which ensures continuous, secure and sustainably efficient power transmission throughout Latvia. Its vision is to become the region's leading transmission system operator, which implements development-oriented changes efficiently and successfully. AST owns 68.46% of shares in the natural gas transmission and storage system operator AS Conexus Baltic Grid.

For further information, please contact:

Līva Jēgere,

Head of Communications,

Phone: +371 26151344.

E-mail: liva.jegere@ast.lv