Finland- Estonia EstLink 2 power interconnector resumes operation

The EstLink 2 subsea electricity cable between Finland and Estonia has been repaired and expected to resume operation on Wednesday, said Finnish national power grid operator Fingrid in a press release on Tuesday.

The transmission link failed on January 26 this year due to a technical glitch and the repair work has progressed as per schedule.

The failure area was quickly located on the Estonian coast. The exact location of the fault was found in early March, after which repair work has continued uninterrupted until early autumn.

The repair work has been carried out in close cooperation with Fingrid, the Estonian transmission system operator Elering and the cable manufacturer.

The failure site of the EstLink 2 link has been a challenge for the repair work. The damaged part of the cable has been replaced with a new submarine cable over 300 meters.

Tests to ensure that the cable connection works started on Monday and will continue until Tuesday. The cable will be back in commercial use from Wednesday.

Once the repairs are completed, Fingrid will still have to limit electricity export capacity to Estonia for the next few days due to construction work on a substation in southern Finland.

"The repair operation on the Estonian coast has gone very well led by Elering, despite the exceptional complexity of the repair. The repair was carried out on a temporary 400 square metre repair platform built on a dry seabed. This innovative solution allowed us to ensure the repair schedule and to save spare cable," said Kimmo Nepola, Head of Unit.

The failure of the electricity transmission link has not affected the functioning of the electricity system in Finland, but it temporarily reduced the electricity transmission capacity between the two countries by 650 megawatts.