Energinet looking for Bornholm cable fault following power outage

Denmark’s energy operator Energinet has kicked off activities to re-establish the power on the submarine cable between Bornholm and Sweden following a power outage.

A fault occurred on the cable at 06:17 a.m. on Saturday, 26 February, causing a power outage for Bornholm, Energinet reported.

On Sunday night, a special vessel arrived at the waters between Bornholm and Sweden to start looking for faults on the submarine cable that connects the two electricity systems.

Measurements have shown that a fault probably occurred in the cable 17 kilometers from Sweden and 26 kilometers from Bornholm. The vessel is working to find the exact fault location and possible reasons why the cable disconnected.

In the past, both anchors from ships and technical faults have caused the power supply from Sweden to suddenly stop.

Once the cable is examined, it will be possible to determine the cause of the fault and the extent of a possible repair, Energinet explains, adding that it is thus not yet possible to estimate how long it will take before the electricity connection is back in operation.

While the submarine cable is out, Bornholm is supplied from its own electricity production at the power plant in Rønne.

The interconnector between the Danish island of Bornholm and Sweden consists of three single-core XLPE subsea cables operated at 60 kV.

Back in 2018, the cable was buried deeper in the seabed as it had been repeatedly damaged in 2004, in 2010, and in 2013.