Based on the current timeframe, the Estonia- Finland gas interconnector under construction is ready to start work from the beginning of 2020, and will start serving the Finnish-Estonian-Latvian joint gas market, Estonia’s Elering, the Estonian gas transmission system operator’s representatives informed.
The maximum technical capacity of Balticconnector will be 81.2 gigawatt-hours of gas per day. The capacity given to the market for the 2020 winter/spring period might be in the range 28.4 to 39 gigawatt-hours per day from Estonia to Finland and 42.2 to 58.5 gigawatt-hours per day from Finland to Estonia. The exact capacity will depend on the operational situation in the gas system and the technical developments in Balticconnectorproject.
The volume of the Finnish-Estonian-Latvian gas market is approximately 40 terawatt-hours per year.
The system operators of the three countries signed an agreement to establish a joint Finnish-Estonian-Latvian regional gas market this year in February. According to the agreement, gas will move between Finland, Estonia, and Latvia from next year without additional costs. This will make the market more attractive to potential gas traders and closer competition should ensure a more favorable gas price for the consumer.
