Lithuania’s largest power plant sits in Elektrėnai, halfway between Vilnius and Kaunas. If the country finds itself blockaded, it will help keep the lights on.
“If something happens [and] all of Lithuania’s electricity connections with foreign countries – via NordBalt, LitPol Link – are disconnected, then the Kruonis hydroelectric power plant is switched on, followed by Elektrėnai,” Vidmantas Voveris, head of the Elektrėnai Complex Operations Department, told LRT.lt during a tour of the facility.
The Kruonis Pumped Storage Plant located nearby can release huge amounts of electricity in a short time. This then gives the Elektrėnai plant up to 12 hours to come online at full capacity.
Because of the plant’s strategic significance, it has previously come under interest from “hostile states”.
At the end of May, Lithuania’s special forces also held military drills at the complex. As part of the scenario, they practised regaining control of the plant.
“The services react, and we react too – for example if strangers are filming somewhere in an unusual place. Drones are also not allowed here at all,” said Voveris.
The plant itself was built in 1960. The first four 150 megawatt (MW) power units started operating in 1962–1965, two more 300 MW units in 1967–1968, and then two more 300 MW units in 1971–1972.
The 455 MW Unit 9 in Elektrėnai was built by Spain’s Iberdrola Ingenieria y Construccion for 376 million euros and started operating in 2012.
Since then, Units 1 to 6 were completely dismantled.
Not everything went straight to the scrap yard, however. Some parts like pumps have been put in reserve. “You can’t buy those at the moment,” Voveris said.
Meanwhile, Units 7 and 8 were powered back up in 2018–2019 when Lithuania started preparing to disconnect from the Moscow-controlled electricity grid, which also includes Belarus, Estonia, and Latvia. The Baltic states are meant to synchronise their networks with the European system next year.
“We ran isolated tests to see if we could maintain the network frequency with our internal facilities at any given time, whether we disconnect ourselves in a controlled way or in an uncontrolled way [by Russia],” said Voveris. “We saw that there was a need for reserve services. We took part in tenders and auctions and we had to carry out tests to meet Litgrid’s requirements.”
Now, the main function of Units 7 and 8 is to be in reserve.
The two units came online earlier this year, while on January 5, for example, the Elektrėnai complex generated half of Lithuania’s electricity.
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