Introduction

On 19 December 2006, the Finnish Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) turned down an application to construct a 1 000 MW undersea cable between the north and south banks of the Gulf of Finland. The application was originally filed in May 2004 by United Power, a Finnish corporation majority-owned (51 %) by a Russian firm called Baltenergo. The plan is often referred to as the Kotka-Kernovo Project, with reference to the respective connection points in Finland and Russia. It was strongly opposed by Fingrid, the national transmission system operator of Finland. Supporters ...