"I think all energy sector workers jumped for joy today. Yes, about 20 years of effort have gone into this. In some ways, it is the hardest thing we've done this century," he told "Aktuaalne kaamera" on Sunday afternoon after the connect had been made.

On Monday, Elering will start dismantling the old power lines and pylons that previously connected Estonia and Russia. A disconnection point will be created as close to the border as possible.

"The wires will be taken down from the ends of the lines, rolled up, and sent to scrap metal. The pylons will be toppled, cut into pieces, and also taken for scrap metal, while those made of concrete will be crushed and used as filler material somewhere," Kilk explained. "The only remaining question is what will happen with the specific span of pylons crossing the border. That must be agreed upon with our neighbors."

No malicious interference was detected over the weekend.

"We have absolutely no indications right now — though the question remains whether it will stay that way forever — of any security incidents anywhere, neither in cyberspace nor the physical world," Kilk confirmed.

But lot of work and learning still lies ahead. The Baltics are now linked to Europe via the Poland-Lithuania connection and each country must maintain its internal stability.

However, the "island mode" operation tests, completed over the last 36 hours confirmed they can manage independently.

"They show that we can handle unexpected events as well as the routine, smooth changes in the system. As always, when consumption fluctuates slightly, production must also be adjusted. There are designated reserves for this, and the dispatcher must activate them when needed. In short, this is an entirely new world for us, and we will certainly be learning a lot in the coming period. I can bet there will also be all sorts of surprises," Kilk said.

On Saturday morning all three countries desynchronized from the Russian BRELL ring electricity grid. The Baltics were connected to the network during the Soviet occupation. 

While the countries have not bought electricity from Russia for years, Moscow still controlled the stability of the whole grid and could have used it to pressure the Baltic states.

The desynchronization process took 17 years due to the need to build new infrastructure. The work cost €1.6 billion, of which 75 percent was funded by the European Union.

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are now fully in control of their own networks and, for the first time, are fully integrated into the EU internal energy market.

On Sunday afternoon, in Vilnius the presidents of the Baltic states, Poland and the European Commission gathered to wait for the news. It came at 2:05 p.m. in a telephone call to President Lithuanian Gitanas Nauseda.

On hearing the news, he said: "Goodbye, Russia! Goodbye, Lenin!"

Goodbye, lenin pic.twitter.com/U8O36dbWQz

— Gitanas Nausėda (@GitanasNauseda) February 9, 2025

--

Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!