Lithuania to complete cross-border electricity links by year-end

Prime minister Algirdas Butkevicius said on Thursday two cross-border electricity links will provide more favorable electricity prices for Lithuanian upon completion, as "new opening markets will mean more competition."

Butkevicius made the remarks in a statement after a visit to Litgrid, the Lithuanian electricity transmission system operator which is responsible for building the links.

According to business news website vz.lt, 86 percent of the construction of NordBalt's , which connects Lithuania and Sweden, and 80 percent of LitPol Link, which connects Lithuania and Poland, have been completed.

The Prime Minister was told the two electricity connections will be completed by the end of this year, according to a statement from the government.

During the visit, Butkevicius said cross-border links are the most important energy projects after Lithuania launched its liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Klaipeda seaport.

Lithuania imports around 60 percent of electricity from Northern countries and Russia, according to official statistics.

After implementing strategic electricity connections, the country expects to become a hub for electricity transmission systems of Baltic countries and secure itself a wider scope of electricity imports, analysts say.

Rokas Masiulis, the energy minister, said 2015 will be an exceptional year in electricity energy sector.

"We will make another huge step towards our main goal to ensure consumers have stable electricity supplies for competitive price," said Masiulis after the meeting with Litgrid.

Earlier this year, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite named both links as the main priorities to the government and urged the cabinet to concentrate more on these projects. The two links are valued at about 900 million euros (1,017 million U.S. dollars). Endit