A power outage on the EstLink 2 submarine power cable between Estonia and Finland was detected from Thursday to Friday night. The cause of the error is still unknown, but Ellering said there was no threat to power supplies, although prices are expected to rise.
Estonia and Finland’s electricity transmission system operators are investigating the cause of the failure.
Elki Sapp, director of Estonian transmission system operator Elering, told ERR that it was too early to say what caused the failure and that no options could be ruled out.
It is also unclear whether the fault is onshore, at the substation, or in the onshore or offshore cables.
Estlink 2 has a capacity of 650 megawatts, but this amount of power may not reach the country. However, Sapp said this does not pose a risk to Estonia’s electricity supply.
“Estonia has sufficient generation capacity to replace the electricity imported via Estlink 2. Similarly, neighboring countries Latvia and Lithuania also have excess capacity and off-market generation capacity. We do not see any risks to security of supply at this time,” he said, adding that Finland’s other connection, Estlink 1, was operating normally.
Sapp said it was difficult to say the exact impact on power prices.
“However, it does have an impact on electricity prices, as during blackout periods there is generally less import of cheap Nordic electricity. Therefore, more local generation, which is not currently supplied to the market, will be used. You’re going to need it, it’s a little expensive,” Sapp said.
Wind farm production in Estonia was effectively zero as of midday Friday, meaning more oil shale power will be brought to market.
The EstLink 2 infrastructure consists of conversion stations in Estonia and Finland and over 147 kilometers of DC submarine cables, 12 kilometers on land in Estonia and 14 kilometers as overhead cables in Finland.
The cable complements the Estlink 1 cable, which was opened 10 years ago and entered service in 2006. The Estlink 3 cable is expected to be completed in 2035.
Eesti Energia: Electricity prices will increase on Saturday
Silver Kera, principal energy trade portfolio manager at Eesti Energia, told ERR that Estonian electricity prices will rise on Saturday due to the failure of Estlink 2.
“We continue to import large amounts of electricity from Finland, where it is cheaper to produce than fossil power plants in the Baltic Sea. Estlink 2 will allow us to import 650MW to Estonia, which was consumed in Estonia in January. “That’s about 50 percent of the electricity,” he said, “and on weekends it consumes about 20 percent of the total electricity consumed in the Baltic states.”
As electricity usage decreases on weekends, the increase in electricity prices will be slightly lessened.
“In short, this means there will be less need to operate increasingly expensive power plants.In terms of wind power, production during the day on Saturday will be lower than average, but from Saturday “We expect a significant increase in wind power production on Sunday night. If the disturbance continues during the working week and the cold weather does not subside, the situation will become even more critical,” Kela said.
During the last Estlink 2 outage, prices ranged from increases of a few percent to hundreds of percent.
Eesti Energia’s newest power plant, Auvere, is currently operational but cannot cover the entire deficit.
“Estonia’s consumption significantly exceeds Over’s production capacity. In other words, no single generation capacity, including modern power plants like Over’s, regulates electricity prices. Enefit – Power is ready to bring all power plants to market as the need arises,” he said.
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