Balticconnector is a bi-directional natural gas pipeline between Ingå,

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bo ...

and

Paldiski Paldiski is a town and Baltic Sea port situated on the Pakri Peninsula of northwestern Estonia. Since 2017, it's the administrative centre of Lääne-Harju Parish of Harju County. Previously a village of Estonia-Swedes known by the historical ...

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and t ...

. It connects Estonian and Finnish gas grids. The pipeline provides Finland with access to the

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

n natural gas storage facility at

Inčukalns Inčukalns is a village in Sigulda Municipality, Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţ ...

. In addition, the pipeline enables construction of the regional

liquefied natural gas Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled down to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the v ...

terminal.

History

The project was proposed originally by the Finnish natural gas company Gasum in cooperation with

Eesti Gaas Eesti Gaas AS, branded internationally as Elenger, is an energy company with headquarters in Tallinn, Estonia. The company's main activity is selling and distributing of natural gas in Estonian, Latvian, Finnish, and Lithuanian markets. Eesti G ...

of Estonia. After implementation of the EU third energy package, EG Võrguteenus, a former subsidiary of Eesti Gaas, replaced the latter. Later EG Võrguteenus was acquired by, and became a part of the Estonian transmission system operator

Elering Elering AS (former name: OÜ Põhivõrk) is a national transmission system operator for electricity and natural gas with headquarters in Tallinn, Estonia. The managing director of Elering is Taavi Veskimägi. History Elering was established on ...

. In October 2015, Gasum abandoned the project due to commercial viability. It was replaced by the Finnish state-owned company Baltic Connector OY. The feasibility study was completed in May 2007. A preliminary

environmental impact assessment Environmental Impact assessment (EIA) is the assessment of the environmental consequences of a plan, policy, program, or actual projects prior to the decision to move forward with the proposed action. In this context, the term "environmental imp ...

programme was done in 2010. In 2010, the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...

financed the investigation of possibilities to create more diversified natural gas grid within the Baltic Sea Region, which included also the Balticconnector project. The seabed studies started in November 2013. The construction agreement was signed between Elering and Baltic Connector on 17 October 2016. The cornerstone of the pipeline was laid on 8 June 2018 in Ingå. The ceremony was attended by Minister of Economic Affairs and Infrastructure of Estonia

Kadri Simson Kadri Simson (née Must, born 22 January 1977) is an Estonian politician from the Centre Party, European Commissioner for Energy in the von der Leyen Commission since 1 December 2019. She was previously Minister of Economic Affairs and Communicat ...

, Minister of the Environment and Energy of Finland

Kimmo Tiilikainen Kimmo Kalevi Tiilikainen (born 17 August 1966, Ruokolahti) is a Finnish politician from the Centre Party. He is an organic farmer and forester. Tiilikainen served as the Minister of Agriculture and the Environment from 2015 to 2019. He is also ...

, European Commission member

Jyrki Katainen Jyrki Tapani Katainen (born 14 October 1971) is a Finnish politician who served as the European Commission's Vice-President for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness from 2014 until 2019. Katainen was previously Prime Minister of Finland f ...

and the managers of Elering and Baltic Connector Oy. Laying the offshore pipeline started on 20 May 2019 and was completed on 24 June 2019. Shielding of the offshore section were completed by 12 July 2019. The onshore section in Estonia was filled with gas on 23 October 2019 and the offshore section was filled with gas on 27 November 2019. The pipeline was inaugurated on 11 December 2019 by ceremonies in Helsinki and Paldiski. The ceremonies were attended by presidents of Estonia and Finland

Kersti Kaljulaid Kersti Kaljulaid (; born 30 December 1969) is an Estonian politician who served as the fifth president of Estonia between 2016 and 2021. She was also the first and only female head of state of Estonia since the country declared independence in ...

and

Sauli Niinistö Sauli Väinämö Niinistö (; born 24 August 1948) is a Finnish politician who has served as president of Finland since March 2012, the 12th person to hold that office. A lawyer by education, Niinistö was Chairman of the National Coalition Pa ...

, ministers of economy Taavi Aas and

Mika Lintilä Mika Tapani Lintilä (born 15 April 1966) is a Finnish politician currently serving as Minister of Economic Affairs since 2019. A member of the Centre Party, he has been a Member of Parliament (MP) since 1999. Lintilä has formerly served as Mi ...

, Deputy Director-General of European Commission Energy Directorate Klaus-Dieter Borchardt and the managers of Elering and Baltic Connector Oy. Balticconnector started commercial operations on 1 January 2020. During the first month of operation it supplied over a third of Finnish gas demand, 885 GWh. By comparison, the domestic Estonian consumption was 565 GWh. After the commissioning of a gas interconnection between

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

and Lithuania in 2022, Estonia and, via the Balticconnector, Finland have been connected to the Polish and internal EU gas markets.

Technical description

The project consists of of a bi-directional offshore pipeline between Ingå in Finland and Paldiski in Estonia, of onshore pipeline in Finland between Ingå and

Siuntio Siuntio (; sv, Sjundeå) is a municipality of Finland located in the Uusimaa region in the province of Southern Finland. Its neighboring municipalities are Ingå to the west, Kirkkonummi, to the east, Lohja to the north-west, and Vihti to the ...

, and of onshore pipeline in Estonia between Paldiski and Kiili. It consists of metering and compressor stations in Ingå and in

Kersalu Kersalu is a village in Lääne-Harju Parish, Harju County in northern Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from ...

, Estonia. The offshore part is operated jointly by Elering and Baltic Connector, while onshore sections of the pipeline will be developed separately by each party. Originally, there was also a proposal for alternative long route from

Vuosaari Vuosaari ( sv, Nordsjö) is a neighbourhood in the City of Helsinki, Finland. It is located by the sea in East Helsinki and with its area of is geographically the largest district in the city. It also has two Helsinki Metro stations, Rastila a ...

(district of Helsinki) to Paldiski. The offshore section and the Finnish onshore section use pipes with an operating pressure of . The Estonian onshore section uses a pipe with an operating pressure of . In Estonia the pipeline is connected to the existing transmission pipeline from Latvia, which will be enhanced. The initial capacity of pipeline is . Later, it will increase up to . The pipeline costs €300 million, of which 206 million were financed by the

. Onshore section in Estonia was built by EG Ehitus AS, a subsidiary of Eesti Gaas, and the offshore section was built by

Allseas Allseas Group S.A. is a Swiss-based offshore contractor specialising in pipelay, heavy lift and subsea construction. It was founded in 1985 by owner and president Edward Heerema, employs 4,000 people and operates worldwide. The company is headqua ...

. The offshore pipeline was laid by the pipe-laying vessel ''Lorelay''. Pipes were supplied by Corinth Pipeworks Pipe Industry SA.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Balticconnector
(Elering website)
Balticconnector
(Baltic Connector Oy website) Natural gas pipelines in Finland Natural gas pipelines in Estonia Pipelines under the Baltic Sea Estonia–Finland relations 2019 establishments in Estonia 2019 establishments in Finland

History

Technical description

See also

References

External links