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The Latvian government is considering that Minister Dainius Kreivys may be confusing physical and trade flows. Lithuania’s energy regulator claims it has not yet familiarized itself with the data provided by the minister, but warned that violators of the “anti-smuggling” law will face penalties.
Vidmantas Jankauskas, an energy expert and former president of the Price Commission at that time, believes that in this case it is necessary to look at who has a contract with whom and stressed that according to the current capacity of the Astrava NPP, the energy produced in the plant represents a relatively small part of the total production portfolio of Belarus.
“It is said that we or the Latvians bought electricity from Russia and that the electricity was not Russian, but Belarusian. When we talk about things like that, in energy we usually look at who has a contract with whom. Does the Russians or the middle man who bought the electricity from Russia have it, or does such electricity from Belarus really exist? ”V. Jankauskas told BNS.
“The Belarusian nuclear power plant accounts for maybe about 5 percent, maybe 10 percent. Of all electricity produced in Belarus. That’s a very small part, they have enough other gas-fired power plants,” he said.
Russian electricity is imported into Latvia by the subsidiary of the Russian energy company Inter RAO, Inter RAO Latvija. According to Juozas Ruzgis, representative of Inter RAO Lietuvos, she buys all the electricity in Russia.
“The contracts state that this is electricity produced in Russia and then the Russian electricity is sold on the Riga Stock Exchange,” Ruzgys told BNS.
He stressed that the company has not been trading electricity with Belarus for more than a year.
“We have not traded with Belarus for more than a year; We do not have contracts, we do not buy electricity in Belarus, we do not sell or import. I really don’t know what the minister is talking about, “said J. Ruzgys.
Inter RAO: Belarusian electricity is exported to Ukraine
Inter RAO BNS claimed that the Belarusian electricity surplus was actually exported to Ukraine in January.
Earlier this year, the country resumed electricity imports from Belarus after about half a year. Ukrainian transmission system operator Ukrenergo said imports from Belarus began the night of January 3 and then amounted to 3,450 MWh per day.
Representatives of Inter RAO pointed out that, for example, on January 10, when the Astrava nuclear power plant was not in operation, Belarus consumed as much electricity as it produced, that is, its balance was zero. At the time of the night of January 13, when the first reactor of the Astrava nuclear power plant started operating at its normal capacity, the export of electricity to Ukraine began.
V. Jankauskas underlines that Belarus did not normally have a large surplus of electricity that could be exported.
“They usually used what they made, consumed it, and even imported it from Russia,” said the expert.
He pointed out that in this situation a distinction must be made between physical and commercial flows, since it is not possible to regulate physical flows.
“We cannot go against the laws of physics. The most important thing is whether we pay, what we pay for, who paid, are there contracts? Now it is only said that perhaps the Russians or those who bought electricity from the Russians could have been deceived, and that the electricity could have come from Belarus, ”said V. Jankauskas.
Latvia: physical and trade flows can be confused
Representatives of the Latvian government claim that according to the tripartite methodology for electricity trading with third countries approved by the Latvian and Estonian regulators last autumn, Belarusian electricity trading is not possible in Latvia.
“According to our system, it is not possible for Belarusian electricity to enter the Latvian side. So if it does not go to Latvia, it cannot be NordPool either,” Latvian Undersecretary of State Edija Šaican told LRT TV this week.
He hypothesized that physical and commercial electrical flows could be confused.
“I do not know the calculations and we have not received anything from our partners, but we assume that there is a confusion between the physical and trade flows,” Shaican said.
We have never discussed with our Baltic partners that we will regulate physical flows in any way, because that is not possible, ”he added.
The Government of Latvia has not yet responded to BNS’s request to comment on the information provided by Mr. Kreivis.
According to the new methodology for trade with third countries, which has not been approved by the Lithuanian regulator – the State Energy Regulatory Council (VERT) – Latvia has been trading with Russia since the beginning of November, when the Astravo nuclear power plant went online. to the Belarusian energy system.
VERT: methodology does not prevent Belarusian electricity in Lithuania
Renatas Pocius, the new president of VERT, claims that the business methodology applied by Latvia does not prevent the electricity produced by Astrave from entering Lithuania.
“We have seen that the methodology does not adequately implement the ‘anti-astravia’ law. In this place, the main reason why we take that position is that the methodology that identifies returns with third countries includes the Lithuanian-Belarusian electricity interconnection infrastructure, ”R. Pocius told BNS.
“In other words, the capacities that are on the Lithuanian-Belarusian connection are evaluated by determining the capacities on the border between Latvia and Russia,” he added.
According to the president of VERT, the flows of physical electricity flowing from Belarus to Lithuania should not be used for commercial trade in Latvia, because in theory this electricity can be traded on the Riga Stock Exchange.
“It just came to our notice then. The essential message of what we mean is that the current methodology does not prevent Belarusian electricity from entering,” said R. Pocius.
However, he claimed that he had not yet seen the information provided by D. Kreivys to the Seimas Defense and National Security Committee (NSGC) on Wednesday.
Mr. Pocius said that it would only be possible to talk about sanctions, such as the revocation of commercial permits, for possible violators of the “anti-astravia” law if we look at this information.
“But here we first have to look and analyze who, how and where. There are certain problems that are complex enough. There is a whole scheme that must be reviewed to see who committed the violation in a similar way,” said the VERT president.
“If an economic entity is found to be trading Belarusian electricity, of course it would be subject to sanctions, possibly business permits, revoked supply licenses,” he said.
D. Kreivys says he has provided evidence that Lithuania buys Belarusian electricity
Energy Minister D. Kreivys declared on Wednesday that half of the electricity that enters and consumes in Lithuania by third countries was recently produced in Astrava, and the country has already paid almost 4 million for it. and if the situation does not change, this amount will reach 120 million euros per year. euros.
According to D. Kreivis, physically Belarusian electricity flows through the Lithuanian-Belarusian connection, but without Lithuania it is traded in the same amount in Latvia, which imports electricity from Russia.
Conservative Laurynas Kasčiūnas, chairman of NSGK, estimates that Belarusian electricity accounts for about 12 percent. of the total amount of electricity consumed in Lithuania.
D. Kreivys is based on data from the Litgrid company. According to them, 33 million people went to Lithuania from January 1 to 18. Belarusian electricity kWh: 17.5 percent. The total amount of “Russian” electricity traded on the Latvian Stock Exchange increased, and from January 21 to 31, the import of Belarusian electricity to Lithuania increased to 71 million. kWh and it was already 50 percent. The amount traded in Latvia.
According to Litgrid, the amount of Russian electricity entering Lithuania through Latvia corresponds to the sum of the physical flow entering the Latvia-Lithuania and Lithuania-Belarus cross sections. In other words, Russia buys electricity from Belarus, markets it in Latvia, imports it and consumes it.
According to Litgrid, if Latvia continued to trade with Russia as well, the annual volume of electricity imports would reach 7.1 billion. kWh, of which 5 billion. The kWh would enter the Lithuanian and Belarusian lines.
According to D. Kreivis, it is planned to put these facts on the negotiating table with Latvia and Estonia as proof that the trilateral electricity trade methodology with third countries approved by them is deficient, at that time the methodology still recognized by Lithuania in 2018 would have region.
According to him, at the end of February, the ministry will present a plan of measures to stop the entry of Belarusian electricity to Lithuania. According to D. Kreivis, it will only provide economic shares.
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