News & events

2014-10-23

LitPol Link ‘Power Bridge’ Construction Reaches Halfway Point

Construction of the LitPol Link power interconnection with Poland, one of Lithuania’s most important current energy projects, is rapidly pushing forward, with 45 percent of planned works now complete. As of mid-October, a third of the transmission pylons for the high-voltage power line planned in Lithuanian territory are already in place, construction of facilities for the high-voltage direct current (HVDC) back-to-back converter station is underway, and reconstruction of the Alytus transformer substation is nearing completion.
 
From the area around Alytus, in the direction of Simnas and Lazdijai, the contours of the new power line can already be seen. Pylons with a height of 50 meters now stand roughly every 300 meters along the planned route through the districts of Alytus and Lazdijai. In total, 150 such pylons – with openwork structures so they blend in with nature – will be built in Lithuania. Power cables will soon connect the pylons, after work this autumn and winter.
 
At present, work is most intense in fields several kilometres from Alytus where a nearly 12-hectare site is being prepared for power link facilities. Over the summer, soil was dozed and the surface levelled to prepare the area for construction of a direct current converter and a new 400 kV switchyard. The territory, roughly the size of two football fields, is adjacent to the reconstructed Alytus transformer substation in the village of Butkūnai. The future converter building’s pillars have already been erected, posts to support the structure have been drilled into the earth, and special noise-absorbing natural mounds have been formed. Two of the eight transformers, each weighing 200 tons, will be brought to the site in January.
 
“All the LitPol Link construction works are advancing strictly according to schedule,” said Karolis Sankovski, Member of the Board and Director of the Strategic Infrastructure Department at Litgrid, which is implementing the project. “All construction works for the converter station will be completed by next summer,” Mr. Sankovski said.
 
Reconstruction of the Alytus transformer substation is also nearing completion. Construction on the 330 kV switchyard commenced last November and most of the state-of-the-art facilities are now complete. The old switchyard will be demolished this winter. The HVDC converter station, a key element of the power link, will be connected to this substation. The converter will permit connection of the two power systems with different parameters: the continental European system and the IPS/UPS system in which Lithuania currently operates.
 
Contractors carrying out construction for the interconnection have been working together constantly with local residents and authorities to quickly and constructively resolve any issues that arise. In all cases, any damages that people suffer during the construction will have to be repaired or compensated by the contractors once work is completed.