Vilnius, Lithuania, 2013-09-30 16:52 CEST (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lithuanian electricity transmission system operator Litgrid and A. Žilinskio ir Ko, a company engaged in the design and construction of electricity equipment, have signed an agreement on the reconstruction and expansion works of the 330 kV switchyard of the Alytus transformer substation.
The agreement is valued at LTL 43.5 million. An international procurement procedure for the reconstruction works of the Alytus switchyard was launched in March 2013 and attracted three bidders. The switchyard’s reconstruction is part of a project to build the interconnection LitPol Link between Lithuanian and Poland. The preliminary value of this strategic project is put at LTL 1 281 million.
“The implementation of the LitPol Link project involved a long-lasting procurement procedure throughout 2013. We set up a team of professionals which is working according to the schedule: an agreement on the construction of a back-to-back converter station in Alytus, the most complicated stage of the project, was signed at the start of 2013; today an agreement on the reconstruction of the Alytus switchyard was signed; a public procurement procedure on the construction of a power transmission line, the last procedure of this project, should be completed in October,” says Litgrid’s deputy CEO for strategic projects Karolis Sankovski.
The reconstruction of the Alytus substation, which is due to start in the autumn, will be in full swing in the spring of 2014 and involve the construction of the power transmission line and the back-to-back converter station in Alytus.
Once the 330 kV switchyard of the Alytus transformer substation in reconstructed, it will be connected to two new 330 kV electricity transmission lines stretching towards the back-to-back converter station and Kruonis Pumped Storage Power Plant. The switchyard will operate synchronously with the back-to-back converter station and the 400 kV switchyard, which will be designed and constructed by ABB. The agreement with ABB was signed in February 2013.
The complex reconstruction of the Alytus transformer substation will be completed by the end of 2015, when LitPol Link will be connected to the Lithuanian electricity transmission system.
Poland, which is implementing the LitPol Link project together with Lithuania, also proceeds with the project according to the schedule. The environmental assessment study is nearing completion, servitudes are being created and agreements were signed with a majority of land owners on whose lands the power lines will be placed. The construction of the interconnection in Poland will not only involve the building of a power line running from the Lithuanian-Polish border towards the Elk substation, but also 11 other investment projects in the north eastern part of Poland.
Litgrid is implementing strategic Lithuanian energy projects. The Lithuania-Poland interconnection LitPol Link will link the electricity systems of the three Baltic States and the electricity transmission infrastructures of Western Europe, and create conditions for the integration of electricity markets and improve the competition of market players. LitPol Link will operate at capacity of 500 MW by the end of 2015.
Laura Šebekien? Head of Communications Ph. + 370 693 65377, Email: laura.sebekiene@litgrid.eu
