Vilnius  - European Union member states Lithuania, Latvia and Sweden submitted a tender to the European Commission Wednesday requesting 175 million euros
(246 million dollars) towards the cost of an undersea electricity cable linking the Nordic and Baltic power grids.

Construction of the cable is intended to reduce the dependency of the Baltic states on energy supplies from Russia and open up a more competitive regional energy market.

The tender was submitted by a consortium for the so-called "NordBalt" project consisting of Lithuania's Lietuvos Energija, Latvia's Latvenergo and Sweden's Svenska Kraftnat, according to Lietuvis Energija.

The exact details of the consortium's structure and operating methods have yet to be decided.

The tender requests an initial 44 million euros to be allocated to the Latvian domestic network, and 131 million euros for preliminary work on the undersea link between Sweden and Lithuania.

The project is intended to be completed in 2016 and will involve laying a 350-kilometre cable on the bottom of the Baltic Sea. Facilities will also be constructed to convert electrical current at each end of the cable.

The total value of the project is currently estimated at between 516 and 738 million euros.

The electricity systems bequeathed to the Baltics by 50 years of Soviet occupation which ended in 1991 have hindered attempts at full energy integration.

A cable from Estonia to Finland called Estlink is the only major connection joining the Baltics to the Nordic grid. (dpa)