Published 2026-09-12 · Event 2025-03-31

Elering’s March EstLink 3 note is a marine EIA programme, not a commissioned 700 MW cable

On 31 March 2025 Elering said it had submitted the environmental-impact-assessment programme for the marine section of the planned Estonia–Finland EstLink 3 link. A programme is not a live interconnect.

Elering’s 31 March 2025 EstLink 3 notice is the dated marine-programme source used here. It says Elering has submitted the environmental-impact-assessment programme for the marine section of the planned Estonia–Finland interconnection to the Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority for approval. Comments were open from 31 March to 21 April, with a public discussion on 23 April in Lääne-Nigula municipality. A submitted programme is not a built cable.

The rating sentence must stay a rating sentence. The notice writes the planned transmission capacity of the new direct-current connection as 700 MW. Estonia already has EstLink 1 at 350 MW, from Harku substation, completed in 2006, and EstLink 2 at 650 MW, connected at Püssi substation and completed in 2014. Those are printed existing and planned ratings. The 700 MW figure is a planned rating. It is not a commissioned third cable.

The timetable sentence must stay a timetable sentence. The final EIA report is expected by 2027. Elering is expected to make the investment decision between 2026 and 2027. The interconnection is projected to be completed by 2035. A 2035 completion projection is not a live Gulf of Finland circuit. The project is written as a submarine cable, converter stations on both sides of the gulf, and grid-reinforcement works in Estonia and Finland.

Related grid notes stay on their own pages. Elering’s EstLink 3 hub, Fingrid’s Fenno-Skan 3 planning note and Statnett’s Skagerrak programme are different dates and different interconnects. This article does not import a Fenno-Skan planning row or a Denmark-cable programme into a March marine-programme day.

DataCenterSweden records 31 March 2025 as Elering’s marine EIA-programme filing for EstLink 3. No project identifier is attached. The next update would need a later primary source that names an approved programme, a 2027 EIA report, a 2026–2027 investment decision, or a commissioned cable. Until then, 700 MW stays a planned rating on a programme paper — not a live third Estonia–Finland cable and not reserved Nordic hall capacity.

Why it matters

A 700 MW Estonia–Finland headline is easy to file as spare Baltic-Nordic hall power. The March note is usable only if the marine programme stays a programme — not a commissioned cable.

What remains unknown

The notice does not approve the programme, publish the 2027 report, take the 2026–2027 investment decision or commission the 2035 cable.

Sources