The third Estonian-Latvian electricity connection has been completed and will commence operation on 1 January

Elering has energised and commissioned the power lines comprising the third Estonian-Latvian electricity connection and the new connection will be usable by the market as of the first day of the next year.

On Estonian territory, the connection comprises the Harku-Lihula-Sindi 330/110 kV line and the Kilingi-Nõmme-Riga 330 kV line section to the Estonian/Latvian border. The Harku-Lihula-Sindi line was energised on 15 December and the line from Kilingi-Nõmme substation to Riga was energised on 17 December in cooperation with the Latvian system operator AST.

The new Estonian-Latvian connection will undergo a testing period until the end of the year. Beginning next year, the line will be usable by the electricity market and add approximately 600 MW of transmission capacity between the two countries.

“It is a pleasure to acknowledge that the new connection was completed exactly on the initially agreed deadline and according to the initial budget regardless of the difficult epidemic situation and various challenges on the construction sites above all due to warm winters,” said Taavi Veskimägi, Chairman of the Management Board of Elering.

The new Estonian-Latvian connection will significantly contribute to improving the security of supply by reinforcing north-south electricity connections as well as the Estonian power grid in Western Estonia. Moreover, the connection is an important prerequisite for connecting Estonia and the rest of the Baltic States to the power grid of Continental Europe. “The completion of the third Estonian-Latvian electricity connection allows for the commencement of renovation work of transmission lines beginning from Narva area that connect with Latvia via Tartu and Valga already in 2021. These must be ready by the time of the change in the synchronous area,” Veskimägi explained.

The Harku-Lihula-Sindi line is 175 kilometres long and it was constructed by Empower and Leonhard Weiss as main contractors. The line section from Kilingi-Nõmme substation to the border of Estonia and Latvia is 14 kilometres long and the main contractor for this construction was also Empower.

Elering used European Union support for financing the construction work of the third Estonian-Latvian connection to an extent of 65 percent. The remainder was covered by the auction revenue of transmission capacity between the countries.

The total cost of the new Estonian-Latvian electricity connection for the two countries is approximately 170 million euros, of which 112 million euros is financed by the European Union.