Veskimägi: the Fundamental Support of the European Commission Confirms the Importance of Estlink 2 Project

Yesterday the European Commission decided to allocate 910 million euros for 12 power network interconnection projects, including 100 million euros for the Estlink 2 project.

According to Taavi Veskimägi, CEO of Elering, the fundamental decision by the European Commission to support the investment in the Estlink 2 undersea cable significantly increases the chances of construction for the second link between Estonia and Finland. "The construction of the Estlink 2 cable is undoubtedly a central link in moving towards a completely open electricity market, which requires there to be sufficient connection capacities between the Baltic and Nordic networks," said Veskimägi Veskimägi said that before making the final financing decision, the European Commission will still review all of the 12 European regional energy market connection projects separately. "If everything goes according to plan, the European Commission will take the final financing decision this spring." Veskimägi explained that Elering continues to make efforts in all directions in order to make it possible to launch Estlink 2 from the beginning of 2014 onto the market, thus increasing Estonia’s security of electricity supply. The technical preparations are going according to plan, and at the moment the most important priority is to put together a financing scheme for an investment of approximately 300 million euros. "The scale and complexity of Estlink 2 make it a challenging project in Estonian terms. The 170-kilometre connection will be built with 140 kilometres of cable under the sea, and its 650 MW will cover more than two-thirds of the annual average consumption in Estonia, and more than was consumed in the summer of 2008," he added.