Fenno-Skan 2, the high-voltage direct current electricity transmission connection between Finland and Sweden, is now ready. The project extending over several years was completed December 16, 2011, when the construction work for the direct current converter stations was accepted. The submarine cable was laid in the Gulf of Bothnia earlier this year. Some of the capacity of the connection has been available to the electricity market during the trial operation period, and now the market has access to the full capacity.

Fenno-Skan 2 will improve considerably the functioning of the Nordic electricity market. There has not been sufficient electricity transmission capacity on the border between Finland and Sweden this year. The physical transmission capacity has been about the same as in the previous years, but the electricity market would have required clearly more transmission capacity. This is why some of the capacity of Fenno-Skan 2 was made available to the market in the trial operation period from 15 November onwards. From 16 December, the new electricity transmission connection of 800 MW is fully available to the market, increasing the transmission capacity between Finland and Sweden by 40 per cent.

Fenno-Skan 2 is an 800 MW and 500-kV high-voltage direct current (HVDC) electricity transmission connection. The total length of the link is approx. 300 km, of which the actual submarine cable accounts for some 200 km. The project was carried out in co-operation between Fingrid Oyj and Svenska Kraftnät. The construction of the transmission link cost a total of approx. 315 million euros.

ABB of Sweden was responsible for the overall contract for the converter station in Finland. The contract covered earthwork, new valve hall, DC converters with foundations, DC and AC bays with their devices, and the control and protection system of the link. At the same time, another converter station was built at the opposite end of the link at Finnböle in Sweden.