OREANDA-NEWS. January 24, 2013. LitPol Link Supervisory Board has appointed Arturas Vilimas President of the Management Board and CEO of LitPol Link. Mr Vilimas will take this position as of February 1st. LitPol Link, the joint Lithuanian-Polish company, was set up in 2008 to coordinate the preparatory work of the power interconnection between Lithuania and Poland. Until December 2012 the company was headed by the incumbent minister of energy of the Republic of Lithuania, Jaroslav Neverovic.

In 2009–2010, Mr Vilimas worked as strategic project director at Lietuvos Energija and was a board member of few energy sector companies. At Lietuvos Energija, Mr Vilimas was in charge of the implementation of the strategic projects of LitPol Link and NordBalt interconnections, and preparation of the feasibility study for connection the Lithuanian electricity system to European networks for operation in a synchronous mode. “The experience gained in the management of energy projects is a solid base to seek challenging goals and ensure the cooperation between the countries in order the LitPol Link interconnection is built in due time,” said Mr Vilimas.

The CEOs of the Lithuanian an Polish electricity transmission system operators, Litgrid and PSE, who are the members of LitPol Link’s Supervisory Board, have confirmed that the power interconnection between the two countries will start operations by the end of 2015. Virgilijus Poderys, CEO of Litgrid, names benefits that LitPol Link interconnection will bring to both Lithuania and Poland: “The interconnection will ensure the integration of Lithuania and Polish electricity grids, enable electricity trade among both countries and further development of the common European electricity market,” stated Mr Poderys. “Polish-Lithuanian interconnection has the highest European priority as will allow to eliminate electricity islands on the EU territory and will contribute to IEM completion process” – said Mr Henryk Majchrzak, CEO of PSE.

As part of the implementation of this project in Lithuania, special planning has been completed, an environment impact assessment has been carried out, land servitudes have been granted, a plot of land for the expansion of the Alytus substation and building a direct current line has been acquired. Technical designs for building a 330 kV switchboard at the Alytus substation and an overhead line from the Alytus substation to the border of the Republic of Lithuania are being developed at the moment. All permissions necessary for building the structures of the interconnection are expected to be obtained before May 2013.

PSE performs the huge investment process of 12 investments tasks for the needs of the Polish-Lithuanian interconnection. All of these tasks are realized on time – according to the schedule. Earlier this month, PSE called a tender for building the section of LitPol Link between the Lithuanian border and the Polish town of Elk. The contractor is expected to be named in April. Special planning procedures are being carried out in Poland currently.

The joint Lithuanian-Polish project of building the LitPol Link interconnection is valued at LTL 1 281 million.