A power cable between Finland and Estonia broke in the Baltic Sea, which led to the suspension of electricity transmission between Finland and Estonia via the Estlink 2 connection.
This was reported by the Finnish publication Yle, citing a statement from the network operator Fingrid.
Power cable break between Finland and Estonia
The cause of the failure is currently being investigated, Fingrid reported.
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— The possibility of sabotage cannot be ruled out. However, we are investigating the situation as a whole and will provide additional information as soon as the cause is established, — said Arto Pahkin, head of operations at Fingrid.
The power line outage occurred on Wednesday, Christmas Day, at 12:26 local time. At that time, the capacity of electricity transmission from Finland to Estonia was 658 megawatts, Fingrid reports.
Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (NCP) spoke out on the matter on the social network X, stating that the outages do not affect the electricity supply in Finland.
— The authorities remain vigilant even on Christmas Day and are investigating, — wrote Orpo.
Jukka Relander, communications manager at industry group Finnish Energy, said the Estlink 2 outage would not affect electricity prices on Thursday, at least not significantly.
— There are rare occasions when electricity comes to us from Estonia, but most often it is an export cable, — explained Relander.
Investigation underway into Estlink cable break
According to Pakhkin, establishing the cause of the outages is proving to be a difficult task.
— Part of the team was sent to the substation, while the other part is inspecting the section between the substation and the sea, as well as the submarine cable itself. Both the Finnish and Estonian ends of the cable are being checked. I think it will take several hours to determine the location of the damage, — said Pakhkin.
The Ilta-Sanomat tabloid was the first to report the incident in Finland.
Finland and Estonia jointly own the Estlink 1 and Estlink 2 lines. While Estlink 2 is out of service, Estlink 1 continues to operate normally.
— Estlink 2 is an important connection, as are all cross-border connections. It is vital that all connections remain operational to ensure the efficient operation of the European electricity system, — Pakhkin emphasized.
The capacity of the Estlink 2 submarine cable is 650 megawatts, while the capacity of Estlink 1 is less – 350 megawatts, reports the Estonian news outlet ERR.
