The First Stage of the Tartu-Viljandi-Sindi High Voltage Line is Completed

On August 24th, the construction work was completed on the first stage of the new high voltage line connecting Tartu, Viljandi and Sindi. New line will secure the flow of sufficient amounts of high voltage electricity around Estonia and significantly improve the supply of electricity to the Pärnu district.

Taavi Veskimägi, the CEO of Elering, says that the completion of the first stage of the overhead line between Tartu and Puhja is a major factor in ensuring the capacity and maximum reliability of the Estonian electricity system. “Building the new Tartu-Viljandi-Sindi line ranks alongside the cross-border connections as one of the main priorities in Elering’s investment programme for the next few years. The 34-million euro investment in the construction of the line will make certain that consumers in Pärnu have good quality electricity at all times, and will also enable new generating capacity to connect to the grid from western Estonia,” he explained.

The overhead line connecting Tartu, Viljandi and Sindi will increase the east-west transmission capacity in the Estonian grid. The design of the line also allows for the construction of a third line connecting Estonia and Latvia and ensures the supply of electricity in West and Central Estonia independently of the supply from the connections to Narva. 

In order to minimise the amount of land required for the protection zone, a two-circuit overhead line will be built and for the first time in Estonia two separate circuits of 330 kV and 110 kV will be hung from the same towers. In the first stage only the 110 kV line between the Tartu and Puhja substations will be energised, and the 330 kV circuit will only be energised once construction of the whole line is finished in 2014. Construction of the new high voltage line is taking place in two stages: the Tartu–Puhja–Oiu–Viljandi section in 2011-2012 and the Viljandi–Kilingi-Nõmme–Sindi section in 2013-2014.

Elering makes its investments under the development plan of the Estonian electricity sector for 2011-2015 with the goal of ensuring security of supply, and is investing a total of around 500 million euros. Other projects beside the Tartu-Viljandi-Sindi line include the full purchase of the EstLink 1 cable, the construction of the EstLink 2 cable and of an emergency reserve power plant, and the renovation of Aruküla substation and the switchyard of the Eesti power plant.

Elering is the Estonian Transmission System Operator, whose main duty is to ensure high-quality supplies of electricity to consumers at all times. To achieve security of supply, Elering maintains and develops the national transmission grid and international connections. Elering controls the Estonian electricity system in real time, ensuring the operation of the transmission network, and the balance between production and consumption.