Baltic countries have sufficient power generation capacity - Latvian government

RIGA - The Baltic countries currently have sufficient power generation capacity, nevertheless, Baltic Sea cable incidents pose a significant challenge, Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina (New Unity) said in response to the latest incident in the Gulf of Finland on Thursday.

In order to strengthen the region's energy independence, the Baltic countries will disconnect from the Russian-connected BRELL power grid in February 2025 to join the Continental Europe grid, said Silina.

"I am in contact with my Finnish and Estonian counterparts about the damage sustained by EstLink 2," Silina said in a statement. "Latvia is ready to provide assistance if needed. The government heads are coordinating measures to maintain security in the Baltic Sea."

The National Armed Forces have stepped up surveillance and regular inspections of critical infrastructure, added Silina.

Later on Thursday, the Latvian Climate and Energy Ministry also issued a statement emphasizing that Latvia's power supply system had not been affected by the failure in the EstLink 2 electricity transmission connection.

The Estonian and Finnish transmission system operators continue to carry out diagnostic work. Measurements conducted by Estonian and Finnish system operators show a fault location in EstLink 2 in the submarine section of the connection on the Finnish side, said the ministry.

Finnish authorities announced at a press conference on Thursday that the submarine cables between Estonia and Finland were likely cut by the Cook Islands-flagged tanker Eagle S, carrying oil from Russia, said the Climate and Energy Ministry. According to current information, the damage was caused by the anchor of the vessel Eagle S, which the Finnish police have not yet found.

Assessing the impact of the incident on security of power supply in Latvia, Climate and Energy Minister Kaspars Melnis (Greens/Farmers) stressed that Latvia had sufficient generating capacity, natural gas reserves and interconnection capacity to cover the country's consumption needs.

Melnis acknowledged that power exchange prices may increase during the cable repairs. Previously, technical failures in Estlink 2 caused electricity exchange prices to rise 10 percent on the average between March and September this year.