The energy crisis in the Baltic Sea region might be solved by generating less expensive power in Estonia instead of building another “A to B” link with Finland, according to the CEO of Estonian power company Eesti Energia Hando Sutter.
In his opinion, another submarine cable in the Baltic Sea region should rather run along the western Estonian islands to reach Latvia, instead of connecting Estonia and Finland in Paldiski, as such route is planned currently for EstLink3.
“It would make sense for the link from Finland to run over the western Estonian islands, Hiiumaa and Saaremaa all the way to Courland where the Latvians have a strong network,” Sutter told ERR website. “We will be generating more power here, in Estonia and Lithuania, where Enefit Green is constructing several wind farms, which will reduce the need for links to other countries”, he added noting that what is needed are links to new renewable capacities.
Responding to that, director of Elering’s maritime network program Getlyn Allikivi said, as quted by ERR, it would be technically more complicated and expensive to have the links run through different wind farms, as compared to an A to B solution between two countries.
He added that Estonian TSO is already reinforcing the grid in the western part of the country, and that the Harku-Lihula-Sindi line that leads to Latvia could be a hub through which Estlink 3 could transport power north to Finland or south to Estonia.
“We are giving our developers new opportunities to export their output using the transmission network,” Allikivi argued, noting that Elering is also planning new links to Saaremaa, Estonian island located south from entrance to Finn Bay.
Still, Eesti Energia CEO believes that these links might not be completed at the same time when new power generation capacities are added. In his opinion, generating power “more cheaply” in Estonia might be a better answer to the problem of expensive energy than improving external links.
