The key facts

  • NordBalt (700 MW) went offline on Friday afternoon, initially reported to be due to a failure at the Swedish converter station
  • Litgrid: reserves activated, electricity supply to consumers in Lithuania was not disrupted
  • Svenska kraftnat is investigating the cause; 'nothing indicates external interference,' the company's spokesperson said

NordBalt outage and operators' response

The NordBalt interconnection between Lithuania and Sweden went offline on Friday afternoon. According to initial reports from the Lithuanian broadcaster LRT, the high-voltage direct current link was interrupted due to a failure at a converter station on the Swedish side. The Lithuanian system operator Litgrid said that reserves were activated after the outage, and electricity supply to consumers in Lithuania was not disrupted and remained stable. The 700 MW interconnection has been in operation since 2016.

What the Swedish side reports

The Swedish broadcaster SVT, citing the grid operator Svenska kraftnat, reported that the company is 'investigating the cause' of the outage, but the failure did not affect the country's power system. 'At this time there is nothing to indicate external interference,' said company spokesperson Tobias Estberg. The cause of the outage remained undetermined at the time of publication.