TALLINN - Eesti Energia (Estonian Energy) announced last week that it bought Solidus, a Scandinavian energy-trading consultancy, in the company's first acquisition outside Estonia.
Company spokespeople said the acquisition would amount to 1 million euros, with the final price dependent on the acquired company's economic activity in the near future.
Established in 2005, Solidus is a clearing representative of Nord Pool, managing clients' electricity portfolios and offering counsel and expert services in electricity market operations and risk management.
Estonian Energy will now become an authorized clearing representative, add know-how through a professional team and is ready to operate on the Finnish market and beyond, CEO Sandor Liive said.
"Buying Solidus is a highly significant step in our strategy to put the deregulation of the energy market working to our advantage," said Liive. "I'm confident it will not be the last."
Solidus was previously owned by Nordic Energy Ltd, which in turn is majority owned by the Pohjolan Voima group.
Estonian Energy officials said Solidus would continue its daily business, offering portfolio-management services and providing other products to clients.
The managing director of Solidus, Jukka-Pekka Hakli, said the company saw the new owner as a potential engine for growth. "In the long term, Estonia Energy with its ambitious plans will open new horizons for Solidus," he said.
Cooperation between Estonia Energy and Solidus began May 31 this year with the signing of an agreement to sell energy on the Finnish market. For the first time in history, import and export of energy on the Baltic and Nordic markets will become possible after the completion of the Estlink submarine cable joining the two energy grids.
Regarding the cable project, workers in Sweden have begun loading the cable onto a special vessel by which it will be transported to the Gulf of Finland by mid-September and later laid on the sea bottom. "Loading will continue in Sweden for about a week, and we plan to submerge the cable near the Estonian coast in the second week of September," Nordic Energy Link's manager, Indrek Aarna, said.
He added that laying the cable would take about 10 days, depending on weather. Transportation and submerging are handled by the British company Global Marine Systems.
The cable, manufactured at the ABB plant in Karlskrona, Sweden for almost a year, measures about 10 centimeters in diameter. One meter weighs about 30 kilograms. A total of 150 kilometers of cable was manufactured. The power link will consist of two parallel cables that will be submerged from two huge rolls on board the special vessel.
The entire shipment weighs more than 4,000 tons.
Converter stations of the power link between Estonia and Finland are being built on both sides of the Gulf of Finland and installation of the land sections of the cable is in the final stages
