Damaged Finland-Estonia subsea link to resume operations earlier than planned

EstLink 2, the electricity transmission link between Finland and Estonia that was damaged at the end of 2024, is set to return to commercial use on June 25, earlier than planned.

Finnish transmission system operator (TSO) Fingrid reported to the authorities on December 25, 2024, the failure of Estlink 2, prompting an immediate investigation into the chain of events of the incident as well as whether a foreign ship was involved in the damage.

A day later, Finland seized the Cook Islands-flagged tanker Eagle S, which, according to initial reports, may have had an unsecured anchor, on suspicion that the vessel caused the outage and damaged internet lines. Photos of the vessel showed that the hull had been damaged.

It was reported in mid-April that Nexans had been tasked to carry out subsea cable repair on the electricity transmission link, with return to commercial use planned for July 15.

According to Fingrid’s most recent announcement, the repair work on EstLink 2 has progressed faster than previously estimated and the connection is expected to return to commercial use on June 25.

The repair work includes replacing the submarine cable with a new cable over a distance of approximately one kilometer.

“The actual repair work on the EstLink 2 electricity transmission link began in May. The work has progressed in favorable conditions at sea, and according to the current estimate, it will be completed after Midsummer. The connection is expected to return to commercial use on June 25, once the repair work is completed and the tests ensuring the cable connection’s functionality have been successfully concluded,” Finland’s TSO reported.

Estlink 2, officially launched in 2014 with a capacity of 650 MW, is 170 kilometers long, of which 145 kilometers is submarine cable, 14 kilometers overhead on the Finnish side and 12 kilometers underground in Estonia.

This was not the first time Estlink 2 had been shut down in 2024. Namely, the link was shut down in the first hour of January 26, 2024, due to a fault located in “a geotechnically demanding area” on the Estonian coast, which kept it out of operation until August 31.

A couple of months later, a fault was detected in the first electrical connection between the two countries. Estlink 1 was out of service due to a technical fault at the converter station in Espoo. The electrical connection was switched off at 4:26 a.m. on March 9 on the Finnish side, while the power cable remained intact. Operational since 2006, the link has a capacity of 350 MW.

Fingrid and its Estonian counterpart Elering signed a memorandum in June 2022 agreeing to start work on the establishment of Estlink 3. In the summer of 2024, Estonia’s Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority (CPTRA) initiated the building permit procedure for what will be the third electricity connection between the two countries.