The location of a fault in an electric cable between Finland and Estonia has been narrowed down, the grid company Fingrid said on Sunday. The fault is located on or near the Estonian coast, the company reported.
Based on information gathered so far during the investigation, the disruption was not caused by an external factor, but most likely due to a technical fault.
"There may be several reasons for a technical failure. For example, a slight deviation may have occurred during the production of the cable, which has weakened during normal use, resulting in an electrical fault," said Tuomas Rauhala, a unit manager at Fingrid.
The grid operator said that work was still ongoing to pinpoint the exact location of the fault. According to Fingrid, repair work will start as soon as more detailed information is obtained about the nature of the fault. According to Rauhala, the repair process will take until at least the end of February.
Since the fault is located in the territory of Estonia, the primary responsibility for repairing it lies with the Estonian grid company Elering. However, the grid companies will cooperate closely on this matter.
A malfunction was detected in the Estlink 2 submarine cable between Finland and Estonia early on Friday. The electricity transmission connection has been out of use since the fault was detected.
The link is important for both Finnish and Baltic electricity systems. However, according to Fingrid, its failure has not endangered Finland’s electricity supply.
Plentiful supplies of electricity and mild weather kept spot prices low in Finland this weekend.
October cable break still under investigation
The Estlink 2 cable is one of several electricity transmission links between Finland and Estonia. It has a transmission capacity 658 megawatts. Since, for example, the Olkiluoto 3 nuclear reactor has a capacity of 1,600 megawatts, Estlink 2 is a key link between the Finnish and Baltic electricity systems.
The cable is about 170 kilometres long, with about 145 kilometres of it running along the seabed.
Another electric cable between the two countries was damaged along with the Balticconnector gas pipeline last October, apparently intentionally by the anchor of a Chinese-flagged ship. The Finnish and Chinese presidents discussed the issue earlier this month, after China offered its "full cooperation" in the investigation.
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