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On Monday, the Minister reiterated the previously expressed position that Kruonis HPP could not be used as a reserve and Lithuania informed its neighbor about it, but added that Belarus had not requested Lithuania because of this.
Appointed at least once
Belarus needs the services of Kruonis PSHP to start up the Astrava nuclear power plant. The neighboring state does not currently have the necessary reserve for a new energy producer. It is true that this reserve will be built later. Lithuania and Belarus are in the common BRELL energy ring, so for security reasons a reservation is needed for the neighbors.
So Belarus didn’t really turn to Lithuania for Kruonis, according to the Minister?
Photo by Julius Kalinskas / 15-minute photo / The President visits the Kruonis Hydraulic Accumulation Power Plant
The facts show that the government of the neighboring country officially approached Lithuania at least once, unofficially, and more.
It was publicly announced that such request was made in the fall of 2015, when the construction of the Astrava nuclear power plant was already in full swing.
November 13 of that year. BNS reported that “the Lithuanian Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Energy have recently received a letter from the Belarusian Ministry of Energy requesting the possibility of using Kruonis PSHP in the future.”
Also wrote about it 15 minutes. This information was also provided by the Belarusian media. Lithuania immediately replied to its neighbors that there was no such possibility.
Incidentally, the current Minister Ž.Vaičiūnas was the Lithuanian Energy Attaché at the Permanent Representation of Lithuania to the European Union in 2015, so the Government could inform him about the Minsk appeal.
Immediately after the appeal he said no
Today, the then head of Lietuvos Energija, Dalius Misiūnas, also remembers that the residents requested the reservation. “Yes, Belarus has submitted its request, but we immediately said no,” he said. D. Misisi said he remembered a case when neighbors requested service from the Kruonis power plant.
Vidmantas Balkūnas photo / 15min / Dalius Misiūnas
The then Minister of Energy, Rokas Masiulis, says that he no longer remembers the details, but this time his then advisor Mantas Dubauskas was summoned.
“We have informed the Ministry of Belarus that the market in Lithuania is fully liberalized and operates in accordance with the requirements of the Third EU Energy Package, and electricity is traded according to the principles of the free market and taking into account the regulations of the According to him, all electricity must be traded on the stock exchange, so there is no possibility to reserve capacity for the transmission of electricity through electricity connections with third countries, “he told the media at the time.
He reiterates that he has not received said request
But now the Ministry of Energy reiterates that there was no appeal from Belarus.
“The operator of the Lithuanian transmission system and the Ministry have not received a request from Belarus on the use of the reserve capacities of Kruonis HPP for the needs of the Astravas nuclear power plant”, – on Tuesday 15 minutes said the adviser to the minister Aurelija Vernickaitė.
He added that Lithuania has already informed Belarus on several occasions that Lithuania has adopted a law that does not allow the use of Kruonis Hydroelectric Accumulation Plant (HAE) reserves for the needs of the Astrava nuclear power plant.
Reuters / Scanpix Photo / Astravo Nuclear Power Plant
The representative of the Minister added that in 2015. Belarus did not mention the Astrava nuclear power plant in its appeal, but the energy managers at the time understood exactly that: Minsk needed the Kruonis capacity precisely due to the construction of the Astrava power plant .
15 minutes According to the evaluation, the Minister of Energy Ž.Vaičiūnas is wrong to say that Belarus did not request the help of Kruonis HPP when the Astrava nuclear power plant will start operating. This information was publicly mentioned in the Lithuanian media, and the authorities and the energy commented on it. Although the ministry claims that the Belarusians did not mention Astrava in the application at the time, the then energy and government chiefs understood exactly that: Minsk needs the Kruonis capacity due to the construction of a new power plant.
Furthermore, Ž.Vaičiūnas was the energy attaché in the Permanent Representation of Lithuania to the EU at the time, therefore he had the opportunity to be one of the first to become familiar with such information.
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