The AEEC Spring Conference took place in Riga on 14 and 15 May 2025. On the topic of ‘Art Nouveau Energy: Redesigning the Grid for a Sustainable Future’, the law firm TGS Baltic had invited not only energy lawyers from all over Europe, but also high-ranking representatives from the fields of energy regulation, grid operation, industry and project planning. This diversity of players led to very open and exciting discussions on the future organisation of energy grids in Europe and the Baltics.
In the morning of the event day, the main focus was on the various requirements to be placed on future energy grids in Europe. Moderated by BBH Partner Dirk Buschle, Anna Butenko from the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E) began by presenting the views of the transmission system operators in the electricity sector. Barbara Fischer, Director of the German Association of Transmission System Operators for Gas (FNB Gas), also explained the plans for the construction of the German hydrogen core network. Dr Lutz Landwehr from Europa-Link then presented the opportunities and challenges for a subsea power interconnector project between Italy and Spain, while Tiago Corrêa do Amaral from the law firm Abreu Advogados outlined the investment requirements for European power grids. This was followed by an exciting discussion moderated by TGS Partner Paulius Zapolskis. involving the head of the legal department of the cement manufacturer Schwenk – the largest single electricity consumer in Latvia -, the Lithuanian Ignitis Group and various project planners of renewable energy plants.
The afternoon of the event day was characterised by the recent decoupling of the Baltic electricity grid from the Russian and Belarusian electricity grids. Moderated by TGS Partner Triin Kaurov, three representatives of the Baltic transmission system operators gave an impressive account of the background to the historical synchronisation with the European CORE network and the legal challenges they faced. The panel discussion moderated by TGS Partner Triinu Järviste focussed on the issue of grid connection, which is also difficult in the Baltic states, especially for generation plants and storage facilities. It became clear that there are very different views and perspectives on this issue. The discussion was rounded off with a presentation by Emilio Sani from the AEEC member law firm Sazalex in Milan on the grid connection issues in Italy.
The event concluded with a block of topics on balancing energy presented by Māra Stabulniece of TGS. Jolanta Graudone from the Latvian transmission system operator gave an insight into how balancing energy works in Latvia. This was taken up by Henri Taskinen from the Finnish storage optimiser Capalo AI, who talked about current business models with balancing energy and made a comparison with the situation in Finland in particular. The following discussion involved a number of balancing market participants in the Baltics.
We would like to thank our AEEC friends at TGS Baltic under the leadership of the Latvian partner Agnese Hartpenga for the excellent organisation of the event.
You are welcome to view the highlights of the conference: Photos from the event and Master presentation.
