Augstsprieguma Tīkls AS (AST) is an independent electricity transmission state system operator in

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

. It operates power systems with voltages of 110 kV and above, which is leased from

Latvenergo Latvenergo is a state-owned electric utility company in Latvia. Latvenergo Group provides energy supply services in the Baltics. Overview The Group comprises the parent company Latvenergo AS, with decisive influence, and five subsidiaries. ...

. It is also the main shareholder of Conexus Baltic Grid, a unified natural gas transmission and storage operator in Latvia.

History

On 15 October 1939 the Ķegums power plant and the first substation in

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

start operation. This day is considered as the beginning of AST. AST was a part of

. On 2 January 2012, it was unbundled from Latvenergo and the Ministry of Finance of Latvia became the sole shareholder of AST. In December 2017, AST bought from Uniper Ruhrgas International and Itera Latvija 18.31% and 16.05% stakes in Conexus Baltic Grid, a natural gas

transmission system operator File:Electricity grid simple- North America.svg, 380px, Simplified diagram of AC electricity grid from generation stations to consumers in North America rect 2 243 235 438 Power station rect 276 317 412 556 Transformer rect 412 121 781 400 Elect ...

in Latvia, for €57.394 million.

Operations

AST operates Latvian power systems with voltages of 110 kV and above, which is leased from

. Its overall strategic goal is to ensure the security of electricity supply of Latvia, to provide a continuous electricity transmission service. Latvia and the Baltic states have historically operated in the

IPS/UPS The IPS/UPS (), also widely known as the Russian grid is a wide area synchronous transmission grid, the Russian Unified Power System (UPS; ) and the Integrated Power System (IPS; ) portion of the network being the national networks of Azerbaij ...

grid, controlled by Russia. The origins of the idea to synchronize with the European grid go back as far as 2007, when the prime ministers of the Baltic states proposed the idea of investigating this possibility. The Baltic States have completed the synchronization with the

Continental Europe Synchronous Area The Continental Europe Synchronous Area (CESA), formerly known as the UCTE grid, is one of the largest synchronous electrical grids in the world, primarily operating in Europe. It is interconnected as a single phase-locked mains frequency ele ...

in February 2025. AST plans to invest €445 million in the Latvian power transmission system in 2018–2027. In 2018, it invests €89.05 million, of which €62.1 million will be spent on implementation of the third stage in construction of the Kurzeme Ring power transmission line and €4.25 million in construction of the third power interconnection between Estonia and Latvia.

Corporate issues

In 2017, the company had a turnover of €158.86 million and a profit of €309,244. In August 2018, the share capital of the company was increased up to €63,139,313 by converting the loan of €57.394 million for purchasing share in Conexus Baltic Grid into the share capital. AST reached 4.7 million euros in 2018, of which 3.6 million will be paid as dividends to the state; the remaining amount will be invested in the fixed assetsfor implementing development projects. The turnover of AST during the reporting year was 194 million euros, which is 35 million euros more than the year before. Income from electric power transmission network services amounted to 72.6 million euros, or 37% of turnover.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Augstsprieguma tikls Electric power transmission system operators in Latvia Government-owned energy companies Government-owned companies of Latvia Energy companies established in 1939 1939 establishments in Europe 1930s establishments in Latvia