Estonia plans new power links to Finland and Latvia by 2040

The Estonian government is planning a third subsea cable to Finland and a fourth electricity connection between Estonia and Latvia, which would cross Saaremaa and continue under the sea to Latvia.

However, landowners along the potential cable corridor still do not know precisely where the transmission lines will be built.

Saaremaa assistant rural municipality mayor Kristjan Tamm said that the final routing corridor will be publicly presented and introduced in July.

"We support property owners' concerns and their resolution, but final agreements will ultimately be reached between the special spatial plan organizer and the landowners. At the moment, no specific restrictions have been imposed. Possible restrictions will arise at the stage when the plan is officially adopted — we are not there yet," Tamm said.

According to grid company Elering, the process of signing land-use restriction agreements will then begin.

"At that point people will have clarity. Before that, we will also refine the design of the restricted area — for example, if the planning stage sets a corridor 140 or 120 meters wide, the actual restriction affecting a property will ultimately be about 80 meters wide," said Priit Heinla, head of offshore grid development at Elering.

Heinla said that investment decisions will be made after studies are completed.

"If we plan to make the investment decision between 2031 and 2033, we aim to have the best possible information by then. We currently believe that electricity prices will remain somewhat lower in the Nordic countries. In that case, it makes sense for us to first connect via Estlink 3 and later establish the fourth Estonia–Latvia connection. The timeline for both would be similar — they could be completed between 2038 and 2040," Heinla said.

Landowners have become concerned due to project delays. For example, the Estlink 3 project began in 2022, with the expectation that the connection would be completed in the first half of the 2030s. This year, the previously set 2035 deadline was also postponed.

"The role of energy and electricity in the world is growing, and these changes will continue to be rapid. Therefore, decisions made ten years ago may not hold over the next decade. Whether these cables are still needed in ten years will be decided when the investment decision is made," said Minister of Energy and the Environment Andres Sutt.