Lithuania’s National Energy Regulatory Council (NERC) has approved Amber Grid’s ten-year gas transmission network development plan, which aims at diversifying gas supply sources in the country and ensuring the reliability of the grid. Investments in the gas transmission network are planned to reach €229m over the next five years, of which half will be for finalising the gas pipeline interconnection between Lithuania and Poland. Amber Grid could also to connect biomethane production systems and hydrogen transportation technologies to the grid.
The GIPL gas interconnection project between Lithuania and Poland, which will have an import capacity of 2.4 bcm/year and an import capacity of 1.7 bcm/year, is expected to be commissioned by the end-2021. In addition, the interconnection capacity with Latvia should be enhanced by 1.9 bcm/year by 2023 (bidirectional interconnection capacity nearly doubled). The Lithuanian gas transmission system operator foresees that that higher volumes of gas will continue to reach Lithuania and the other Baltic States through the Klaipėda LNG terminal, compared to the gas flow supplied from Belarus. Amber Grid forecasts that in 2020, 65% of gas will be imported through the Klaipėda LNG terminal, while 31% will come from Belarus and 4% from Latvia.