Updated 10-year investment plan of the Networks segment

AB “Ignitis grupė” (hereinafter – the Group) informs that the Supervisory Board of its subsidiary AB “Energijos skirstymo operatorius” (hereinafter – ESO) on 7 December 2021 approved the updated 10-year investment plan of the Networks segment for 2021–2030 (hereinafter – the Investment Plan) (link). The investments planned for the period of 2021–2030 amount to EUR 1.9 billion. They are going to be allocated for improving reliability, resilience and digitalisation of the electricity and gas distribution networks.

The core Networks’ activities will be continued, and there are no material changes compared to the previous 2020–2029 Investment Plan. The planned investments will be allocated towards the two core activities – increasing network reliability and efficiency as well as facilitating the market and customer experience:

1. Increasing network reliability and efficiency: in order to restore power faster after a network failure, overhead power lines will be replaced with underground cables with the priority on replacing power lines with a lot of interruptions and hazardous power lines, in forests. The installation of the equipment that ensures network automation and management will continue. Additionally, state of the art and innovative solutions with an emphasis on seamless and optimal integration of distributed energy sources and EV charging stations as well as asset management digitalisation solutions will be implemented.

2. Market facilitator and customer experience: the aim is to facilitate market transformation and development and to improve customer engagement when selecting an energy supplier. Smart meter implementation is the core feature of the programme. This technological solution in the ESO network will ensure data accuracy and immediate availability while facilitating the market and consumers to create high quality services.

ESO will finance the planned investments by inflows from distribution tariff, the European Union and other grants, as well as allocating own and borrowed funds. Investment projects established in the Investment Plan will be coordinated with National Energy Regulatory Council (hereinafter – NERC).

Until now, the Investment Plan was updated annually, however, NERC did not have an obligation to approve it formally. Starting from 2022, the Investment Plan will have to be submitted, according to the procedure set out in the legal acts for NERC approval every two years.

The adoption and implementation of specific solutions in pursuit of the objectives (including their scope, period, financing method and other aspects) will depend on the economic, legal and other factors that can impact the adoption of the solutions and their efficient implementation. The investments will be coordinated, according to the procedure set out in the legal acts, with the regulatory authorities, therefore, they cannot be considered as ultimate investment decisions or used as basis for performing other actions.

For more information please contact:

Artūras Ketlerius
Head of Public Relations at Ignitis Group
Tel. +370 6 207 6076
arturas.ketlerius@ignitis.lt