Named EstLink 3, completion date for the cable is around a decade from now and planning began last year, with the building permit and environmental impact assessment processes currently underway.

Priit Heinla, head of offshore grid development at grid distributor Elering, noted that EstLink 3's construction is taking into account any potential sabotage of the kind seen in recent years in the Baltic.

"The truth is that we are trying to install it deeper, into the seabed. We don't know exactly what the additional protective measures will look like, as this depends heavily on the specific geology and what would be useful and reasonable to install," Heinla said.

He noted that the route of the cable will run as far west as possible, to create space between it and existing infrastructure. This aims to reduce the risk of damage to multiple seabed links taking place at the same time.

As for current progress, Heinla said that the land-based work process is already underway with the tender for the first segment already announced and awaiting bids.

The Estonian government has initiated national special plans both for the Rehemäe–Aulepa section and the Tallinn ring section, he added.

"In the marine section, the environmental impact assessment program is currently being developed," Heinla said.

EstLink 3 will make landfall in Estonia at Aulepa, Lääne County. Since relatively intensive trawling activity takes place in that area, this is being taken into account in the cable installation, Heinla noted.

"EstLink is being built via public discussion. If it turns out that it's reasonable to adjust the route with the fishermen in mind, then we will do so," he continued.
EstLink 3 is being built in cooperation with the Finnish grid operator Fingrid. The latter first want to finalize the business plan before proceeding with other activities, Heinla noted.

"Our sense is that on the Finnish side, there is certainty that they want to build EstLink 3," he added.

Another factor is that Finland's geology, including its seabed geology close to the Finnish coast, differs significantly from Estonia's, and this presents some challenges.

"Everyone who goes toward Finland can see there are granite cliffs there, and in the seabed, there is a lot of clay between those granite cliffs. So we will be moving the cable multiple times from very hard rock into very soft clay, and this creates technical challenges. We don't see it affecting the project timeline, but we do know it means more research for us," Heinla said.

The existing EstLink 1 was the first interconnection between the Baltic and Nordic electricity markets and was followed.

On Christmas Day 2024, EstLink 2 experienced an unplanned failure, reducing the Estonia–Finland cross-border capacity from 1,016 to 358 MW. Other damage in recent years to infrastructure in the Baltic, including to the Balticconnector gas pipeline, damaged in October 2023 by the dragging anchor of an oil tanker.

The EstLink 2 damage is being investigated as suspected intentional sabotage caused by another oil tanker, the Eagle S, believed to be a part of the several hundred vessels which make up Russia's shadow fleet, in an effort to evade sanctions placed on the country.

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