Today the transmission system operators in continental Europe have synchronised with the power networks of Ukrenergo and Moldova. The synchronisation was in response to an emergency request from the Ukraine on 27 February and Moldova on 28 February, which were supported in a meeting of Europe’s Energy Council on 28 February. The systems were already linked and able to transfer power, but they did not operate as a single system, so Ukraine could not use the larger system to help keep its supplies stable.
It was accomplished within days, according to European network organisation Entsoe, because it had already been under development for around five years. Entsoe said, “This acceleration of the synchronisation project ongoing since 2017 has been possible thanks to the previous studies carried out and the adoption of risks mitigation measures”.
The operators concluded on 11 March that synchronisation was possible. From today, transmission networks in Continental Europe are now supporting the stability of the Ukrainian-Moldovan power system “with a number of measures to ensure safe and secure power systems”.
Entsoe said this was a “significant milestone for the Continental Europe TSOs working in collaboration with Ukrenergo and Moldelectrica that are operating their respective power systems under extremely difficult circumstances.”
The emergency synchronisation allows for interconnection with additional mitigation measures to limit the operational risks. It will support Ukrenergo and Moldelectrica in maintaining the stability of the Ukrainian and Moldovan power systems.

Meanwhile, Baltic states have been restricting their electricity imports from Russia as a risk mitigation measure. The states do not want to have a large part of their supply from Belarus or Russia because it would leave them vulnerable to a cascading blackout if there was an ‘extraordinary desynchronisation from the electricity network of Russia and Belarus” – ie a supply cut off.
System operators Elering, AST and Litgrid halved the transmission capacity for electricity imports from Russia to 300MW.
Following the change, up to 150MW can be sold from Russia to the Latvian price area of the power exchange and the Kaliningrad region – an area on the west on the Baltic states belonging to Russia – can sell up to 150MW to Lithuania. Russian electricity will now represent less than 10% of the region’s supply, a level that cab still affect prices.