“The damage caused by the storm to the infrastructure is enormous, so right now every additional pair of hands is very important. Litgrid’s decision to encourage its contractor teams to contribute to the restoration of the distribution network is a real and much-needed help. We thank our colleagues for their prompt involvement – by joining forces, we will be able to restore electricity supply to customers faster,” says ESO head Renaldas Radvila.
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“The storm that raged over the weekend damaged 14 electricity transmission lines, but we eliminated its effects in the Litgrid transmission network within a couple of days, and the electricity transmission system is currently operating stably. Now the most important thing is to restore electricity supply to all residents as quickly as possible, so we are postponing our planned works and creating conditions for our contractors to help strengthen ESO teams. These are experienced specialists who can help remove network damages and restore electricity supply faster,” says Litgrid head Andrius Šemeškevičius.
The Litgrid head notes that by redirecting forces to help ESO, postponing planned works such as network renovation or maintenance will not affect system reliability or users. Litgrid sent an invitation to contribute to the restoration of electricity supply to all contractor companies specializing in overhead line work. Each of them assesses their ability to get involved individually, so the exact number of teams and specialists joining ESO teams will be known later.
The storm that devastated Lithuania over the weekend is one of the largest in several decades in terms of its consequences. Significant damage was caused not only to the distribution but also to the transmission network and other important national infrastructure.
According to ESO data, electricity supply has already been restored to more than 60% of customers since Saturday, when the storm was at its strongest. Currently, 85,000 ESO customers still do not have electricity due to the storm.
“We understand people’s inconveniences and dissatisfaction – for some residents, it is currently difficult to meet even essential needs due to electricity supply disruptions. We are all dealing with an extraordinary scale storm, whose consequences for the distribution network are catastrophic. We are working at full capacity, but removing damages of this scale takes time. At the same time, this situation once again shows how important it is to increase the resilience of the network and the entire country,” notes R. Radvila.
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One of the most effective ways to protect the electricity network from external impact is to replace overhead lines with underground cables. ESO is significantly increasing cabling volumes, especially in forested areas where the largest share of electricity supply disruptions is recorded. However, the network managed by ESO stretches over more than 135,000 kilometers, so relocating the entire network underground would require huge investments and take time. Therefore, network resilience is strengthened comprehensively, combining cabling with other measures.
ESO manages a 135,000 km electricity network, of which 39% is already cabled. Cabling is one of the most important directions of network modernization, and investments are prioritized towards the most vulnerable network locations – primarily forested areas.
Just last year, ESO cabled 368 km of overhead lines in forested areas. By 2028, the company plans to replace about 2,000 kilometers of overhead lines with cables, and in 2026 about 700 kilometers of cable lines are planned to be laid in forests.
The share of cable lines is steadily growing: in 2024, underground lines accounted for about 36% of the entire network, compared to about 31% in 2019.
