Hitachi Energy has won an order to provide Fingrid and Elering, the transmission system operators in Finland and Estonia, with an extensive control and protection system upgrade of the EstLink 1 high voltage direct current transmission system that connects the two countries.
EstLink 1, along with EstLink 2, enables power exchange between the asynchronous grids of Finland and Estonia via 105 km of underground and subsea cables.
“Our transmission systems have been helping to secure power in the Baltic region for decades,” said Niklas Persson, Managing Director at Hitachi Energy’s Grid Integration business. "We are proud to support our customers by providing our cutting-edge HVDC control system and Hitachi Energy Service solutions, making the link more secure. Based on almost 70 years of experience, our services extend the system lifetime and further improve its availability and reliability.”
“Elering’s main duty is to guarantee energy to Estonian consumers [involves] co-operating with other system operators and the European electricity market,” commented Kalle Kilk, chairman of the Elering management board. “EstLink 1 is a key part of fulfilling that responsibility … Estonia cannot be viewed in isolation, [security must] be ensured in the region as a whole. The decisions of Estonia and its foreign partners mutually influence the security of supply. The bigger the electricity market is, the better we can ensure [supply] in Estonia at the best possible price."
After more than 16 years of operation, the control and protection system of EstLink 1 will be upgraded with Hitachi’s MACH digital control platform.
Image: The Harku HVDC converter station on the Estonian side of EstLink 1
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