Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo announced on Wednesday that a power cable connecting Finland and Estonia under the Baltic Sea has experienced an outage, triggering an official investigation. Orpo took to X to communicate the disruption, revealing that the transmission of power through the Estlink-2 cable came to a halt on Wednesday, prompting authorities to delve into the incident. Fortunately, Orpo assured that the interruption would not impact the electricity supply in Finland.
Estonia’s network operator, Elering, reassured the public that there was sufficient reserve capacity to meet the power demands on the Estonian side, as reported by the public broadcaster ERR on its website.
The region has been on high alert regarding undersea infrastructure in the Baltic Sea following previous incidents. In November, two data cables were deliberately cut—one linking Finland and Germany, and the other connecting Lithuania and Sweden. In response to these events, Germany’s defense minister suggested that foul play was involved, hinting at potential sabotage without offering concrete evidence or specifying any potential perpetrators. The minister’s comments were made within the context of a broader discussion on the threats posed by hybrid warfare tactics originating from Russia.
Recent events involving the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines have added to concerns about deliberate disruptions. In September 2022, the pipelines—previously used to transport natural gas from Russia to Germany—were damaged by underwater explosions. Authorities have classified these incidents as acts of sabotage, prompting the launch of criminal investigations.
The Estlink-2 cable has not been without its own challenges this year, experiencing prolonged downtime for repairs due to damage from a short circuit possibly linked to the cable’s intricate positioning, according to ERR’s report.
