2025-07-11
The first solar park joins the electricity balancing market in Lithuania
Litgrid, the Lithuanian electricity transmission system operator, welcomes a new participant in the electricity balancing market. Meiluškiai solar park, developed by European Energy, submitted its first bids in the market. This is the first solar park in the country to contribute to ensuring the balance between electricity consumption and generation in the Lithuanian electricity system.
“Following the successful synchronisation with Continental Europe, the development of a competitive and efficient balancing market is one of the most important goals. As Lithuania seeks to generate all the electricity it needs from renewable sources, the demand for balancing services is growing. The joining of the first solar park to this market is a significant step towards ensuring a balance between electricity generation and consumption in Lithuania. We encourage renewable energy developers to participate more actively in the balancing market, as this undoubtedly represents a win–win situation: it offers additional revenue opportunities for renewable energy projects and helps stabilise balancing costs for consumers,” says Minister of Energy Žygimantas Vaičiūnas.
“We are continuing to develop the energy balancing market and are working to attract new participants. The growing technical capabilities of balancing services allow for the integration of larger amounts of renewable energy resources and a reduction in balancing costs. All wind and solar power plants connected to the transmission network have the technical capacity to provide balancing services. It requires connecting the power plant control systems to the balancing market information systems. We are delighted to welcome the first solar park to the balancing market and invite other producers to join too,” said Donatas Matelionis, Head of Power System Operations Department at Litgrid.
Meiluškiai solar park is developed by European Energy, and balancing services are provided by Centrica Energy. The solar park has successfully completed pre-qualification tests and is already providing manual frequency restoration reserve (mFRR) balancing services by reducing electricity generation. Service capacity is 34 MW.
“Although European Energy operates solar and wind farms in twelve countries, this solar park is the first in our portfolio to start providing system frequency services. This is a significant step not only for us but for the entire market. It is also important to mention the contribution of Litgrid, whose proactive approach to implementing the MARI platform has significantly contributed to this achievement. Since this is a common Baltic market, it is particularly gratifying to see Lithuania leading the way in terms of the system services provided,” said Karolis Tuinyla, Asset Manager at European Energy Lithuania.
“We’re proud to support Lithuania’s first solar park in delivering balancing services to the grid, and it’s a testament to how renewables and advanced optimisation can work hand in hand. This project reflects our broader commitment to accelerating the energy transition by unlocking the full potential of renewables through real-time balancing and optimisation, and by enabling solar assets like Meiluškiai to actively support grid stability, we’re not just integrating clean energy, we’re reshaping how flexible, decentralised systems can operate across Europe as key to building a resilient energy system.” Says Kristian Gjerløv-Juel, VP of Renewable Energy Trading & Optimisation at Centrica.
Litgrid currently has balancing service contracts with 21 market participants. Some of them are already providing balancing services, while others are in the preparatory stages.
Balancing services can be provided using various technologies, including energy storage batteries, solar and wind power plants, and flexible consumption. Participants in the balancing energy market must be able
to offer immediate reduction or increase of their generation or consumption capacity so that electricity transmission system operators can ensure a constant balance between generation and consumption.
In recent years, the Baltic transmission system operators Litgrid, Augstsprieguma tīkls, and Elering have joined the common European balancing exchange platforms. In October 2024, they joined the manual frequency restoration reserve service platform MARI, and in March-April 2025, they joined the automatic frequency restoration reserve service platform PICASSO. Participation in the European balancing market has opened new opportunities for electricity producers and large consumers in the Baltic countries to provide balancing services.
