The undersea cable between Finland and Estonia was laid on Sunday, 25 November 2012. Photo: Patricia Gabriel-Robez / Lehtikuva
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The Estlink 1 electricity cable linking Finland and Estonia was disconnected early on Monday after a technical failure at a substation in Espoo.
Transmission operator Fingrid reported the fault at 5:46 a.m., confirming that the problem had been traced to a reactor at the Espoo site. Fingrid’s head of operations Mikko Piironen said there was no evidence of sabotage or external interference.
Repairs are expected to take around three weeks. “The malfunction has been located at the substation reactor. It is not a cable failure,” Piironen said.
The 106-kilometre-long Estlink 1 cable, operational since 2006, has a capacity of 350 megawatts. Together with Estlink 2, which can transmit 658 megawatts, the cables form a critical link in electricity exchange between Finland and Estonia.
Estlink 1 will remain out of use during repairs, according to Estonian operator Elering, which co-owns the system with Fingrid. The company confirmed the outage and said it affected the Finnish side of the network.
Market analysts note that disruptions may influence electricity prices depending on supply and demand conditions. Piironen said the impact could cause price shifts in either direction.
The outage follows a separate incident involving Estlink 2, which was damaged on Christmas Day 2024. That line remained down for six months, with investigators alleging the cable was struck by the anchor of the Russian-flagged tanker Eagle S, part of Moscow’s so-called shadow fleet. The tanker’s role is currently under examination in an ongoing trial at the Helsinki District Court.
The incident underscores the vulnerability of cross-border energy links in the Baltic region, where geopolitical tensions have increased risks to critical infrastructure.
HT
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Source: www.helsinkitimes.fi
