Estonia to Build Gas-Fired Power Plant for €100 Million for Energy Security After Cable Damage in Baltic

The Estonian government has allocated €100 million to build a new gas-fired power plant to boost the country's energy security after a cable was damaged in the Baltic, Bloomberg reports.

The funding decision came a week after a 170-kilometre submarine cable connecting the Estonian and Finnish power grids was severed by the anchor of a passing ship. The Estonian authorities suspect that the act was deliberate and linked to Russia.

‘Russia is looking for new opportunities to harm Estonia and other European countries,’ the agency quoted Prime Minister Kristen Michal as saying at a press conference ahead of the announcement of the financing for the new power plant.

The financing for the new Estonian gas plant will be injected into the share capital of the state-owned energy company Eesti Energia AS, and its construction will last until at least 2028. Estonia, with a population of 1.3 million people, has traditionally relied on shale power plants with a total capacity of about 1,200 megawatts.

The day before, Lithuanian Energy Minister Žygimantas Vaičiūnas said he would address Latvia and Estonia with a proposal to build new power plants to provide the Baltic states with guaranteed capacity in the event of a break in the submarine cables.

As The Gaze previously reported, on 26 December 2024, Finnish authorities detained the Russian oil tanker Eagle S on suspicion of damaging the Estlink 2 submarine cable between Finland and Estonia, as well as four internet lines. Three data cables run from Finland to Estonia and one from Finland to Germany.