Nord Pool Spot CEO Mikael Lundin and Virgilijus Poderys, CEO of Lithuania’s electricity transmission system operator Litgrid, signed a respective agreement in Vilnius on Monday.
“I am looking forward to the opening of the exchange in June,” Lundin said after the signing ceremony hosted by the Energy Ministry. The market of the Baltic and Nordic countries would be integrated after the installation of the required electricity links, he said.
“I hope that a similar agreement will be signed in Latvia in soon,” Lundin said.
“In my belief, this is a day of great historical significance,” Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius said after the signing of the deal.
“Lithuania becomes part of Nord Pool Spot. I have no doubts that we have approached irreversible processes of transition to the market economy,” Energy Minister Arvydas Sekmokas told reporters before the signing.
“We will become part of the Western structure. And after connecting the structures, we will become part of the Nordic electricity market,” Poderys said after the ceremony.
“In line with the agreement, we will become part of an enlarged electricity market from the middle of this year,” Poderys said, adding that this would reduce pressure on prices from the East.
Nordic electricity exchange Nord Pool Spot now operates in Scandinavian countries and Estonia, where it launched operations in April 2010. Earlier, the exchange had said that it intended to gain a foothold in Lithuania and Latvia in 2012.
