Elektrilevi hopes to restore power outages by late evening
Most of the blackouts have been resolved, with the exception of Raplamaa, where about 900 customers are still without power, but Elektrilevi hopes to have power restored everywhere by late evening.
Mihkel Härm, chair of Elektrilevi's board of directors, told ERR that the only region still experiencing power outages is Raplamaa. There are 15 outages and about 900 customers without power.
"All disruptions will be resolved by late tonight. Raplaimaa is a question mark because some outages might remain until tomorrow morning, but the brigades are working hard to finish repairs today," he said on Saturday morning.
Strong winds and snow are equally damaging to the electricity network. Härm explained that in strong winds, work cannot be carried out from fork lifts. However, with weather like Friday, it was possible to repair faults all the time.
"The problem is that slush, wet snow and ice weigh down the wires and damage them. There are many failures of this kind that take time to fix," he said.
Approximately 20 percent of Elektrilevi's network is subterranean, while the rest is overhead.
Härm said that 95 percent of the low-voltage network, which reaches every home, is waterproof, but the medium-voltage network connecting substations will need considerable upgrading in the coming years.
"About 60 percent of electricity lines are in need of upgrading and weatherproofing," he said.
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Editor: Karin Koppel, Kristina Kersa
