The Baltic InteGrid project – Integrated Baltic offshore wind electricity grid development funded under the INTERREG Baltic Sea Region in 2014-2020 has been approved as the Flagship Project of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region.

The Ministry of Economics of the Republic of Latvia, acting as the Policy Area Coordinator for the Policy Area Energy (PA Energy) of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR),has announced that the Baltic InteGrid project has been accepted as a Flagship Project under the Energy Policy Area by the BEMIP initiative, DG REGIO, and the national coordinators. The project has been added to the Action Plan for the Baltic Energy Market Interconnection Plan initiative (BEMIP Action Plan).

The main objective of the project is to develop a concept of the Baltic Offshore Grid integrated with planned offshore wind farms. It will be based on a detail analysis of spatial, market, political, regulatory, social, environmental and technical conditions.

The overall objective of the Baltic InteGrid is to contribute to sustainable indigenous electricity generation, further integration of electricity markets, and security of supply in the BSR by applying the meshed grid approach to optimize the potential and efficiency of OWE. To this end, during the project lifetime, 14 project partners from all 8 EU Member States from the BSR (Poland, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia) will work in close cooperation with key stakeholders towards delivering project’s main outputs:

• the Baltic Offshore Grid Forum (BOGF),
• a high level concept for the Baltic Offshore Grid,
• the detailed feasibility studies for two case studies as components of the Baltic Grid Concept,
• recommendations and propositions.

The project will connect relevant BSR wide stakeholders (transmission system operators (TSOs), OWE industry, policymakers, national authorities, academia). They will debate and exchange their knowledge with a view to optimize transnational coordination of OWE infrastructure. Additionally, the project’s innovative research efforts will equip stakeholders with a deep  insight on the framework conditions for the optimal development of a regional meshed grid.

All project activities and outputs will bring forward plans for a coordinated Baltic Sea offshore grid and thus significantly reduce one of the most important bottlenecks for the development of renewable energy sources (RES) in the BSR.

FNEZ activities in the project Baltic InteGrid:

• identification of a list of potential impacts of the Baltic Offshore Grid on environment and society,
• identification of the impact reduction and mitigation pathways for each BSR,
• elaboration of the „Impact mitigation strategy of the Baltic Offshore Grid”,
• elaboration of the prefeasibility study for the case study – interconnection between Poland-Sweden,
• participation in the Project activities:
  • coordination and leadership in activities in the project,
  • analytical and organizational works for the needs of the establishment of the the Baltic Offshore Grid Forum,
  • participation in activities of thematic working groups,
  • preparation in country workshops with the key stakeholders,
  • elaboration of the recommendation to the Ten Years Network Development Plan.