A power cable connecting Finland and Estonia beneath the Baltic Sea experienced an outage, leading to an investigation, as reported by Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo on Wednesday.
In a statement on social media platform X, Orpo confirmed that the Estlink-2 cable had stopped transmitting power and assured that officials were looking into the situation. He emphasized that this interruption would not impact electricity availability in Finland.
According to Estonian network operator Elering, there was sufficient backup capacity to meet the power demands on the Estonian side, ensuring there would be no significant disruptions for consumers.
Concerns about underwater infrastructure in the Baltic region have increased recently. Last November, two data cables—one running between Finland and Germany and another between Lithuania and Sweden—were cut, sparking worries about potential sabotage. In fact, Germany’s defense minister suggested that the incident might have been a deliberate act, although he did not provide any specific evidence or identify potential culprits.
The situation is reminiscent of past incidents, such as the damage to the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines that transport gas from Russia to Germany. Those pipelines were compromised by underwater explosions in September 2022, which authorities have classified as sabotage, leading to ongoing criminal investigations.
The Estlink-2 cable had already been offline for a significant part of the year due to repairs following a short circuit, which might have stemmed from its complex layout, as noted by ERR.
As nations remain vigilant about their energy and data security, the focus lies on understanding the causes of such outages and protecting vital infrastructure from potential threats.
