Key Danish Island Hit by Massive Power Outage After Reported Cable Break

Previously, an important subsea power link between Sweden and Poland was taken out of order following blasts on the Nord Stream pipelines which Russia called acts of international terrorism.

The Danish island of Bornholm has been hit by a power outage and was left entirely without electricity on Monday morning, electricity company Trefor has confirmed.

The power outage occurred approximately 10 minutes after eight local time, and covered over 30,000 of the island's inhabitants.

Trefor department manager Ole Westh told TV2 a break in the submarine cable to Sweden had occurred. According to Westh, it has not yet been established whether the break in the submarine cable is on land or in the sea between Sweden and Bornholm. The company blamed a “component failure” earlier this morning.

Westh further added that the company was waiting for Bornholm's Energy and Supply (BEOF) to ramp up local electricity production to restart supplies. Approximately two thirds of the island's households have already regained power.

Dubbed the “Sunshine Island” because of its weather and resorts, Bornholm is Denmark's easternmost island in the Baltic Sea, located south of Sweden, northeast of Germany, and north of Poland. Earlier this year, the governments of Germany and Denmark reached an agreement to expand the capacity of the offshore wind hub Bornholm Energy Island.

On September 26, the island made international headlines, as the Nord Stream AG operator registered a rapid gas pressure drop in both the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines north and south of Bornholm as a result of “unprecedented damage.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin said it was a deliberate assault on European energy infrastructure, hinting that the US and the UK were responsible for the blasts, first registered by Sweden and Denmark. The Russian Prosecutor General's Office launched a probe into both incidents as acts of international terrorism.

At the same time, Moscow stressed that the decision by Denmark and Sweden not to cooperate with Russia in their probe caused major concerns. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova emphasized that Copenhagen's unwillingness to involve Russia in the investigation may indicate that Copenhagen knows who the perpetrator is.

Meanwhile, the Swedish authorities are investigating whether a key electricity cable between Sweden and Poland was damaged in the Nord Stream blasts. The 254-kilometer power cable that goes by the name Swe-Pol Link lies only a hundred meters from the site of the explosion and was taken out of use following the blasts. Previously, it had sparked controversy over environmental concerns.

It was built in 2000 in order to supply electricity between the Swedish city of Karlshamn and Poland to reduce the latter's use of coal. However, it may be used to import electricity to Sweden when necessary, which happened in January 2022.