Building Work Starts on the EstLink 2 Underground Cable

Preparatory building work has started for the underground cable of EstLink 2, the second electrical connection between Estonia and Finland. A total of 12 km of underground cable will be laid on the Estonian side of EstLink 2 in pipework 1.5 metres deep.

EstLink 2 is the second DC cable between Estonia and Finland, and on the Estonian side it will start from Püssi substation and go into the sea just before Aseri. Building work has started in Aseri district and will start soon in Lüganuse district. The cable is being laid 1.5 metres deep inside pipework protected by concrete slabs.

Most of the cable route will follow the existing 330 kV and 110 kV corridors, although the route will be completely new in some places. The cable will pass through a total of 54 properties and will go under cultivated land and hay fields and cross main and minor roads and existing overhead lines, underground cables, gas pipes and drainage systems.

The EstLink 2 underground cable is being supplied in sections of around 950 metres in length, meaning that 12 junction points will also have to be built along the route, and there will be one junction point where the undersea cable connects to the underground cable. Digging work is expected to finish in autumn 2012, after which the work on installing the cable can begin.

The new connection is expected to come into operation in early 2014 and will triple the capacity of the connection between the electricity systems of Estonia and the Nordic countries. EstLink 2 is important both for the security of supply for Estonian consumers and for the efficient functioning of the electricity market. This will be particularly true after the market is opened fully at the start of 2013. Once the connection is completed, it will be possible to speak of a single Baltic and Nordic electricity market, which will allow efficient competition to give consumers a wider choice of electricity sellers and give producers access to trade in a much larger marketplace.

The total length of EstLink 2 is almost 170 km. On the Estonian side it will start at the Püssi substation in Ida-Virumaa, which is one of the main substations in the Estonian electricity system. A converter station will be built next to the Püssi substation, from where an underground cable will run the 12 km to the coast before continuing as an underwater cable. The undersea cable will run at depths of up to 90 metres along 145 km of seabed before reaching land in Finland, where it will run the 14 km to the Anttila converter station as an overhead line. The electricity will then get into the Finnish electricity system through the Anttila substation beside the converter station.

The total cost of the EstLink 2 project is around 320 million euros, which is being split between Elering and Fingrid, the Estonian and Finnish TSOs. The European Commission is also putting 100 million euros into the project.