How is the electricity enough after the cable is destroyed? – This is the response of the grid company Fingrid

The sufficiency of electricity for this winter needs to be reassessed due to the failure of Estonia’s transmission cable and suspected vandalism, he says Fingrid.

“Yes, an update is definitely necessary. At first glance, we could say that we still see that the electricity supply is good, if no significant other failures occur. In connection with other failures, the significance of the Estlink 2 failure is of course highlighted,” says Fingrid’s head of power system operation Tuomas Rauhala.

The Estlink 2 cable connection, which failed due to suspected vandalism, has a capacity of 650 megawatts, which means that in a scarce or expensive situation, Finland has been able to get that much electricity from Estonia. The connection corresponds almost to the Olkiluoto 1 or Olkiluoto 2 power plant. The power of both is about 890 megawatts.

“At the moment, we do not see that the probability of an electricity shortage would increase significantly due to a cable fault,” says Rauhala.

Finland’s electricity system can withstand the failure of a large power plant. The problem comes when several things happen at the same time. So there will be problems if at the same time there is a fault in the power plant and the transmission connection and there is cold and windless weather, i.e. there is not much wind power.

There is no help from Estonia in situations of scarcity

The police announced on Thursday that they had started a preliminary investigation into the cable crime as a suspected act of aggravated vandalism. The Eagle S tanker is suspected of damaging the electric cable.

The repair of the Estlink 2 cable will take an estimated seven months, which means that the connection will not help Finland in electricity shortage situations this winter. The still smaller 350 megawatt Estlink 1 is in use. The two transmission connections in Sweden are larger, each with a power of 1,200 megawatts.

“Electricity from the Baltic States is imported above all in those situations when import capacity is needed and all production in Finland is in use. Now that there is less import capacity, in that situation the prices can be even higher than they would be if there was full capacity in the Baltic connections,” says Rauhala.

“This has the strongest effect on the functioning of the electricity system and the adequacy of electricity specifically in situations of scarcity in Finland.”

On the other hand, when there is a lot of electricity production in Finland, for example on a windy day, not cheap electricity will flow for the benefit of Estonian consumers in the coming months.

“Then the average price can be lower in Finland, because we can export less electricity,” says Rauhala.

The cables therefore improve the security of electricity supply and equalize both cheap and expensive peak prices in Finland and Estonia.

Everyone can affect the adequacy of electricity

Rauhala reminds that if, for example, there is a shortage of electricity supply, everyone can improve the situation by saving electricity as much as possible.

“The high price indicates that there is a shortage of electricity supply. Then we hope that, within the limits of our own safety and well-being, the use of electricity would be flexible, as we have done in previous winters. Unexpected serious failure situations can always highlight scarcity situations,” says Rajala.

Similarly, in these situations, it is especially important for producers to ensure that their own production is in working order.

Fingrid estimated in November that if the electricity system is operating normally, there will be no shortage of electricity this winter, and the probability of an electricity shortage on an average winter day is small. However, the power limitation of Olkiluoto 2 slightly increases the probability of a power shortage during a cold and windless period, if the transmission connection or a major domestic power generation plant fails during the same period.

Through its own reserves, Fingrid is always ready to respond, for example, to the failure of Olkiluoto 3. There are about 900 megawatts of such interference power.

This winter, electricity production will be reduced by the fact that Olkiluoto 2’s production has been reduced by 150 megawatts as a result of turbine malfunctions. On the other hand, the situation is improved by the fact that the Nordic hydropower reserves are at a good level. In addition, there has been more wind power compared to last year.

In turn, the new transmission management agreement will help smooth out transmission peaks in the electricity network, where flexibility in the production or consumption of electricity is agreed, if necessary, for the needs of managing transmissions in the main grid.