6 April 2021 9:00 GMT Updated 6 April 2021 11:38 GMT Siemens, its Fluence storage joint venture with US power group AES, and Lithuania’s transmission system operator Litgrid plan to build a first project in the Baltics that links battery energy storage directly to the power grid to help the Baltic nation move away from Soviet-era energy ties towards an integration with EU countries. A 1MW pilot plant near the capital Vilnius will serve as proof-of-concept for much larger planned projects in the former Soviet republic as Lithuania is quickly expanding renewable energies to become independent of Russian fossil gas and integrate with the Continental European Synchronous Area in 2025.