Fast, flexible and secure decarbonisation of the Baltic states – possible progress in the next Ten years (FasTen)

The FasTen project will explore the potential to accelerate the decarbonisation of the Baltic States in the next 5-15 years. The project aims to “promote energy research and analysis in the Baltic states and inspire an intra-Batic and Baltic-Nordic collaboration”. The participating partners are Latvia through Riga Technical University, and Lithuania through the Lithuanian Energy Institute.

The project will analyse the potential evolution of the combined Baltic-Nordic energy system and explore the opportunities for increased interconnections and sector coupling in the Baltic States. Further, the project seeks to explore how regional power grids can be strengthened in order to develop electricity grids strong enough to secure stable electricity flows – which could help decarbonise the Nordic-Baltic countries and possibly parts of central Europe as well. FasTen will use modelling tools to highlight the costs and benefits of this development. Lastly, the project will explore the opportunities of accelerating the decarbonisation of the transport sector, through electric vehicles.

The project will explore these above-mentioned research areas by creating a shared, public Nordic-Baltic data set, prepare scenarios, run models, and engage with Baltic stakeholders.

The project owner is VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and the project partners are Riga Technical University and Lithuanian Energy Institute. So far, the consortium has had a kick-off and is planning on meetings with relevant stakeholders by the end of June. The project will run until October 2021.

Coordinator: VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, FInland

Participants:

• Riga Technical University, Latvia
• Lithuanian Energy Institute, Lithuania