News & events

2015-11-19

LitPol Link power line energized for the first time

For the first time electricity flowed through the wires of Lithuanian-Polish interconnection LitPol Link. These first tests of power line stretching from Elk to Alytus aimed to check whether the line is ready for power transmission.
 
The tests of power line were carried out after finishing LitPol Link construction works. HVDC back-to-back converter station will be tested next, followed by the testing of the whole interconnector. These tests do not affect the power market.
 
Completed in early November, 163 kilometers long electricity transmission line connects the towns of Alytus in Lithuania and Elk in Poland. 51 km of the route stretches in Lithuania through the districts of Alytus and Lazdijai with the remaining 112 km of the route continuing in the northern part of Poland.
 
“The power line that enables electricity exchange with Poland is the first one of 400 kV in Lithuania. So far, the country’s transmission grid only consisted of 110 kV and 330 kV power lines. The first tests show that the line is ready to start operations by the end of the year”, - says Karolis Sankovski, Director of Strategic infrastructure department in Litgrid, Lithuanian electricity transmission operator.
 
The constructions of LitPol Link power line began in spring of 2014. 150 pylons were built in Lithuania alone. 50 meters tall, these pylons are among the tallest in Lithuania, thus helping to easily identify this particular power line even from the distance.
 
The LitPol Link power connection consists of three elements — the high-voltage double-circuit power transmission line, HVDC back-to-back converter station in Alytus, and two transformer substations in both countries. The link that will connect power transmission infrastructures of Lithuania and Western Europe for the first time will have a capacity of 500 MW.