The East–West Interconnector is a 500 MW high-voltage direct current submarine and subsoil power cable which connects the Irish and British electricity markets. The project was developed by the Irish national grid operator EirGrid.
LitPol Link is an electricity link between Poland and Lithuania which connects the Baltic transmission system to the synchronous grid of Continental Europe. It has a capacity of 500 MW and since 2021 it can operate in a synchronous regime.
ENTSO-E, the European Network of Transmission System Operators, represents 40 electricity transmission system operators (TSOs) from 36 countries across Europe, thus extending beyond EU borders. ENTSO-E was established and given legal mandates by the EU's Third Package for the Internal energy market in 2009, which aims at further liberalising the gas and electricity markets in the EU. Ukrainian Ukrenergo became the 40th member of the association on 1 January 2024.
The SuperSmart Grid (SSG) is a hypothetical wide area electricity network connecting Europe with northern Africa, the Middle East, and the IPS/UPS system of CIS countries. The system would unify super grid and smart grid capabilities into a comprehensive network. There are no planned locations for infrastructure or schedule explicitly for the SSG; the name is used to discuss the economic and technological feasibility of such a network and ways that it might gain political support.
An electrical grid is an interconnected network for electricity delivery from producers to consumers. Electrical grids consist of power stations, electrical substations to step voltage up or down, electric power transmission to carry power over long distances, and finally electric power distribution to customers. In that last step, voltage is stepped down again to the required service voltage. Power stations are typically built close to energy sources and far from densely populated areas. Electrical grids vary in size and can cover whole countries or continents. From small to large there are microgrids, wide area synchronous grids, and super grids.
A wide area synchronous grid is a three-phase electric power grid that has regional scale or greater that operates at a synchronized utility frequency and is electrically tied together during normal system conditions. Also known as synchronous zones, the most powerful is the Northern Chinese State Grid with 1,700 gigawatts (GW) of generation capacity, while the widest region served is that of the IPS/UPS system serving most countries of the former Soviet Union. Synchronous grids with ample capacity facilitate electricity trading across wide areas. In the ENTSO-E in 2008, over 350,000 megawatt hours were sold per day on the European Energy Exchange (EEX).
The IPS/UPS is a wide area synchronous transmission grid of some CIS countries, with a common mode of operation and centralized supervisory control. It has an installed generation capacity of 300 gigawatts, and produces 1,200 terawatt-hours (TWh) per year for its 280 million customers. The system spans eight time zones.
A super grid or supergrid is a wide-area transmission network, generally trans-continental or multinational, that is intended to make possible the trade of high volumes of electricity across great distances. It is sometimes also referred to as a "mega grid". Super grids typically are proposed to use high-voltage direct current (HVDC) to transmit electricity long distances. The latest generation of HVDC power lines can transmit energy with losses of only 1.6% per 1,000 km.
The Great Belt power link, also known as the Great Belt electricity link, is a high-voltage direct-current interconnection across the Great Belt between Funen and Zealand connecting two power transmission systems in Denmark.
Burshtyn TES is a coal-fired power plant of Zakhidenergo located in Ivano-Frankivsk Raion 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) south-east from Burshtyn, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, Ukraine. It was built in the Soviet era and is now part of Rinat Akhmetov's holdings.
Elering AS is a national transmission system operator for electricity and natural gas with headquarters in Tallinn, Estonia. The managing director of Elering is Taavi Veskimägi.
Lithuania is a net energy importer. In 2019 Lithuania used around 11.4 TWh of electricity after producing just 3.6 TWh.
The Great Sea Interconnector, formerly known as the EuroAsia Interconnector is a planned HVDC interconnector between the Greek, Cypriot, and Israeli power grids via the world's longest submarine power cable, with a length of 310 kilometres (190 mi) from Israel to Cyprus and 898 kilometres (558 mi) from Cyprus to Greece for a total of 1,208 kilometres (751 mi).
Litgrid AB is a Lithuanian electricity transmission system operator that operates Lithuania's electricity transmission grid. Litgrid is responsible for the integration of the Lithuanian electricity system into the European electricity infrastructure and the common electricity market.
An interconnector is a structure which enables high voltage DC electricity to flow between electrical grids. An electrical interconnector allows electricity to flow between separate AC networks, or to link synchronous grids. They can be formed of submarine power cables or underground power cables or overhead power lines.
The electrical power grid that powers Northern America is not a single grid, but is instead divided into multiple wide area synchronous grids. The Eastern Interconnection and the Western Interconnection are the largest. Three other regions include the Texas Interconnection, the Quebec Interconnection, and the Alaska Interconnection. Each region delivers power at a nominal 60 Hz frequency. The regions are not usually directly connected or synchronized to each other, but there exist some HVDC interconnectors. The Eastern and Western grids are connected via seven links that allow 1.32 GW to flow between them. A study by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory found that increasing these interconnections would save energy costs.
The Nordic regional group of ENTSO-E is a synchronous electrical grid composed of the electricity grids of Norway, Sweden, Finland and the eastern part of electricity sector in Denmark. The grid is not synchronized with the Synchronous grid of Continental Europe, but has a number of non-synchronous DC connections with that as well as other synchronous grids. Gotland is not synchronized with the Swedish mainland either, as it is connected by HVDC.
Harmony Link is a planned electricity link between Lithuania and Poland. The purpose of the cable is to finish the transition of the Baltic states from IPS/UPS to the synchronous grid of Continental Europe. In late 2023, both countries agreed to change the project and build the link on the land along the Rail Baltica railway infrastructure, instead of the previously planned submarine power cable.
Ukrenergo is an electricity transmission system operator in Ukraine and the sole operator of the country's high-voltage transmission lines. It is 100% owned by Ukrainian government.
Baltic states synchronization with UCTE is an international electricity transmission infrastructure project to synchronize the three Baltic states with the Synchronous grid of Continental Europe, managed by ENTSO-E, and leave the IPS/UPS transmission system managed by the BRELL agreement. The project is expected to be completed by February 2025.
