ENERGY March 2013, No. 3 (15) UPDATE PUBLISHED BY THE LITHUANIAN ELECTRICITY TRANSMISSION SYSTEM OPERATOR STRATEGIC PROJECTS IN THIS ISSUE: Litgrid and ABB signed a Litgrid Junior Professionals historical agreement on the Programme – construction of the LitPol Link perfect start for a career in power power interconnection facility engineering On 15 February 2013, the strategic LitPol Link power in- page 3 terconnection project between Lithuania and Poland reached a particularly important stage with the signing of an agreement on the design and construction of a direct current insert with a 400 kilovolts (kV) back-to-back converter station in Alytus. The agreement was signed between Litgrid, the Lithuanian electricity transmission system operator, and ABB, the global technology Litgrid and ABB have signed an agreement on outsourcing the direct company. Students prepare current insert with a 400 kV converter station in Alytus see page 2 electric energy TODAY AND TOMORROW plans for the next The plans of electricity network three decades development lie in the hands of page 7 competent specialists Antanas Jankauskas, leading network development plans; he engineer of the Litgrid System has been working in the system Planning and Research Division development division of the then has been working in the energy Lietuvos Energija since 1994. sector for more than 40 years. Over the course of his career, The engineer, who specialises in Mr Jankauskas has witnessed Sector news electricity systems and networks, the creation of the electri- has spent more than half of city transmission network as well his working life, 24 years, in the as himself contributing to the page 8 Leading engineer of the Litgrid Energy Planning Institute where expansion of the network. System Planning and Research he has been involved in the pre- Division Antanas Jankauskas paration of electricity transmission see page 4 1 ENERGY UPDATE STRATEGIC PROJECTS – will allow Lithuania, Latvia and native and back to direct again. Estonia to import as well as export Simultaneously the voltage will electricity to and from Western Eu- also change from 400 kV to 330 kV rope”, said the Minister of Energy. and back. Thus, the electricity During the event, the CEO of systems of continental Europe, Litgrid emphasised the signifi- to which belongs Poland, and cance of the LitPol Link power in- the IPS/UPS system, to which be- terconnection. “The Lithuanian- long Lithuania and other Baltic Polish power interconnection is States, will be compatible. very important for us from three key aspects. First of all, there has ABB – global leader in been no power infrastructure advanced technologies with Western Europe until now. Secondly, we will participate in ABB, which started develop- the European free energy mar- ing of high voltage direct current ket and, finally, we will operate (HVDC) technologies 60 years our power system in a modern ago, is a global leader in this field way”, said Mr Poderys following today. The company has imple- signature of the agreement. mented about 90 HVDC projects This event was attended by with power transmission capaci- officials of the Government, ties exceeding 95,000 MW. Expe- Seimas and office of the Presi- rience in this field in particular dent, Ministries of Energy and allowed the company to submit Foreign Affairs of the Republic the best offer for the LitPol Link of Lithuania, his Excellency the direct current interconnection Ambassador of Poland to Lithu- public tender. The participants ania, representatives of Lithu- of the public procurement pro- anian and Polish municipalities cedure were evaluated based on and neighbourhoods associated economic benefit criteria. Offer with the power interconnection, price, payments terms, electri- representatives of the Lithuanian city transmission losses, reliability energy sector and guests from of facilities (energy accessibility) Sweden and Estonia. and the number of unplanned disconnections were taken into Direct current insert consideration. Taking all of the Virgilijus Poderys: LitPol Link will connect electricity infrastructures – a unique one above into consideration ABB of the Baltic States and Western Europe submitted the best offer. The unique direct current in- continued from page 1 sert – 100 metres wide, 350 me- Construction works to start At the press conference fol- tres long and with the capacity in spring 2014 A key step towards the lowing the signing of the agree- of 500 megawatts (MW) – will energy independence of ment, the Minister of Energy be custom designed and built in According to the agreement, Lithuania has been taken Jaroslav Neverovič stated that the expanded transformer sub- which is worth LTL 288 million, construction of the direct cur- station in Alytus. The main pur- the Swedish company will pre- The signing of the agreement rent insert is a technical solution, pose of the direct current insert pare the technical project of marks the beginning of a new which will help to end the isola- is to combine different electricity the direct current insert with a stage. The design works of the tion of Lithuania as an energy transmission systems of Lithu- back-to-back converter station, most important facility of the island. “This insert is undoubt- ania and Poland. It will be possible perform all the necessary studies, LitPol Link power interconnection will commence shortly, with the At the press conference following the signing of the agreement, start of construction planned for spring 2014. The agreement was the Minister of Energy Jaroslav Neverovič stated that cons- signed by Virgilijus Poderys, CEO truction of the direct current insert is a technical solution, which of Litgrid, and representatives of the tender winner, the Swedish will help to end the isolation of Lithuania as an energy island. ABB technology company, mar- keting and sales manager Hans edly the first facility of its kind to transmit electricity through deliver and assemble the equip- K. Johansson and Chief Engineer in the Baltic States. Connecting the direct current insert from ment. The final part of the pro- Lars Weimers. ABB develops high two different power transmis- Lithuania to Poland and vice ject will involve ABB testing and voltage direct current (HVDC) sion systems – Eastern and the versa: the current in the facility technologies. remainder of continental Europe will alternate from direct to alter- see page 3 2 March 2013, No. 3 (15) STRATEGIC PROJECTS continued from page 2 commissioning the new infra- structure. A direct current insert is a complex facility and so its construction and eventual op- eration will provide Lithuanian energy specialists with new knowledge and skills. Construction of the direct cur- rent insert will start in Alytus in spring 2014. At the same time, a high voltage electricity trans- mission line will be built for the LitPol Link and a 330 kV con- verter at Alytus substation will be rebuilt. It is expected that all of the works will be finished in time to allow the LitPol Link itself to be commissioned at the end of 2015. It will initially operate at 500 MW, and in 2020 the capa- city will double to 1000 MW. LitPol Link – a European The agreement signing was attended by well-known guests from Lithuania, Poland, Sweden and Estonia Union priority project The Lithuanian-Polish project being implemented in the Baltic included in the European Union the energy isolation of the Baltic is a part of the Baltic Energy Mar- Sea region. The LitPol Link power (EU) priority list of energy pro- States and create a single power ket Interconnection Plan (BEMIP) interconnection, which is also jects, will contribute to ending market in the EU. TODAY AND TOMORROW Litgrid Junior Professionals Programme – perfect start for a career in power engineering For the second consecutive year In February 2013, the programme Lithuanian electricity transmission was presented to a large crowd system operator Litgrid is imple- of students of Kaunas University menting the Junior Professionals of Technology. As observed by Programme. Students and gradu- Prof Saulius Gudžius of the Electrical ates from the electric engineer- and Control Engineering Faculty of ing programme are granted an Kaunas University of Technology, opportunity to work, study and the programme initiated by Litgrid gain knowledge from experienced offers an opportunity to success- Litgrid professionals and this fully compete in the job market. serves as the basis for their future “The greatest benefit from close career in the energy sector. cooperation between scientific institutions and companies is that Universities partner the students gain practical knowledge. programme Junior Professionals Programme encourages students to choose In cooperation with various less common professions, moti- Lithuanian universities, Litgrid se- vates them to learn and to apply lects the most talented and pro- the knowledge gained in practice”, So far students are taking active interest in the Junior Professionals mising young people ready to start Prof Gudžius said. Programme their career in power engineering. see page 6 3 ENERGY UPDATE TODAY AND TOMORROW The plans of electricity network development lie in the hands of competent specialists continued from page 1 to change their approach to the network, it is important to take into length. Calculations and network expansion and planning princi- account the influence this might analysis show that were there to be Transmission network is ples of the electricity transmission have on the production, transmis- a breakdown in one section of any like a highway network. At the same time the dy- sion and distribution of electricity. of these lines, ten or more 110 kV namics of the electric energy sec- substations might be discon- Most people probably think tor changed with the emergence Network development nected. In this case the supply of that the field of electrical energy of the free market and greater planning is a difficult and electricity may be disturbed. That is very complex but according to opportunities.