WASHINGTON, D.C.— U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm and the Minister of Energy of Lithuania Dainius Kreivys signed a historic agreement on enhanced cooperation to help achieve Lithuania’s goals of energy security and the transition to a climate-neutral energy sector. The result of a long-standing cooperation between the two countries in energy policy, this first such Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aims to better prepare Lithuania’s energy sector to meet climate change-related threats.    

“The U.S. Department of Energy truly values a strong and consistent partnership with Lithuania, and this MoU further solidifies our collaboration with European allies at this critically important moment in history,” said Secretary Granholm. “We are excited for Lithuania to take advantage of our National Lab expertise to chart their own course towards clean energy and energy independence. This work, like our Net Zero World initiative with a number of other countries, will provide a roadmap to growing thousands of clean energy jobs and strengthening our economies.” 

“This agreement, signed together with the Secretary Granholm, is not the beginning of energy cooperation between Lithuania and the United States, but the outcome consistent and intensive cooperation lasting for a several years. It represents a shared commitment by both countries to continue to work closely together to achieve the same energy policy goals, one of the most important of which is the historic and inevitable transformation of our energy sectors. Lithuania has ambitious goals for the next three decades to become not only a fully energy-independent and self-sufficient country generating energy for its own needs from renewable sources, but also a net exporting country in the region. Over the next few decades, the energy sector will become an even more complex organism that will require special protection and resilience to external factors. Therefore, we have agreed to work together to strengthen the resilience of the energy sector to cyber threats and climate change factors,” said Minister Kreivys. 

The MoU provides for specific areas of cooperation related to strengthening Lithuania’s energy sector in cyber security, as well as Lithuania’s goal of transitioning to a 100% renewable energy sector by 2050. 

Lithuania’s Ministry of Energy and other organizations will work with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to develop a plan to modernize the country’s electricity system infrastructure modelled after the Los Angeles 100% Renewable Energy Study (LA100). Lithuania will be the first country in the world to implement this model in order to achieve a transition of the Lithuanian energy sector to 100% renewable energy by 2050. The LT-100 study will help understand and plan for issues related to feasibility, reliability, public health, and equitable local economic development, including job opportunities and local hiring programs in renewable energy. 

READ the LA100 study.