OREANDA-NEWS. July 27, 2009. After 2015 the Baltic region will face a severe energy crisis, Deputy Director of Energoatom Concern OJSC Sergey Boyarkin said during the public hearings on the preliminary assessment of the environmental impact of the construction and operation of the 1st and 2nd units of Baltic Nuclear Power Plant took place in Neman, Kaliningrad region, on July 24 2009.

As a result of the shut-down of Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant on Jan 1 2010 the energy system of the region will lose 1,350mln MW. Presently, 1/3 of the energy consumed by Kaliningrad region is supplied by Ignalina NPP. The gap caused by the shut-down of Ignalina will be covered by Smolensk Nuclear Power Plant.

But, several months ago Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia filed a collective application to UCTE to synchronize their energy systems with Europe and to de-synchronize them from Russia. When this happens, Kaliningrad will get into an energy blockade as the transit of Russian energy via Lithuania will be no longer possible.
 
In its turn, Poland, whose coal-fuelled plants cover the demand of not only domestic but also some Northern German consumers, will have to stop them following its Kyoto Protocol commitments. As a result, after 2015 the whole Baltic region will face a severe energy crisis.

Kaliningrad will not be able to join UCTI as that system will be short of energy and will hardly want to have one more consumer. The only way for Kaliningrad to join that system is to be a region having energy in excess. Baltic NPP will give Kaliningrad that excess so the region will be able to export energy to its neighbors like Ignalina NPP is doing at present.