Phone, light, fridge — in that order.
That is what every real power cut in an Estonian home comes down to. Pick the station that covers the three essentials for the hours you care about, and the rest of the year you have a camping battery, a suvila battery and a festival battery. One purchase, many uses.
Why Estonian households are planning this now
Three things have changed in the last two winters:
- Storms knock out rural lines every winter in Harju, Lääne and Saare counties. 2–6 hours is common, a full day happens once every few years.
- The Baltic grid is a target. Estlink 2, the undersea cable to Finland, was damaged in January 2025 in a suspected sabotage. Cable cuts in the Baltic Sea have become a regular news item.
- Nord Pool prices swing from 2 c/kWh at night to 35+ c/kWh at the morning peak. A station charged on cheap night hours can cover the morning peak now and then, on top of its job as backup.
The Rescue Board's Ole valmis! programme already recommends every household can cope 72 hours without outside help, and lists a backup power source as part of the kit. This page helps you choose the right size.
Choose by your home, not by Watt-hours
Instead of comparing specifications, start with what your home looks like:
| Your situation | What you need to keep running | Recommended station |
|---|---|---|
| City apartment, no suvila, light preparedness | Phones + one lamp for the evening | FP300 — €199 |
| Apartment with a small fridge or home office | Phones + lamp + router + small fridge for a working day | FP600 — €299 |
| Family house with a full kitchen fridge-freezer | Kitchen fridge keeps running, internet, lights, phones | TD1200 — €499 |
| Rural house, long outages, or a suvila you take seriously | A full day and night of normal home activity | TD2400 — €849 |
| Any of the above, plus you want it to refill itself | Add a folding solar panel | PF-100W or PF-200W |
Stock is arriving in Estonia soon. Get early access and launch pricing →
What each size really covers, in hours
| Power station | Phones | LED lamp (one room) | Fridge-freezer | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FP300 — 192 Wh | ~11 charges | ~24 h | Too small | 4 kg |
| FP600 — 512 Wh | ~29 charges | ~2.5 days | ~7 h | 7 kg |
| TD1200 — 1024 Wh | ~56 charges | ~5 days | ~14–16 h | 16.5 kg |
| TD2400 — 2048 Wh | plenty | ~10 days | ~24–30 h | 24 kg |
Full reasoning behind these numbers: read our guide to power cuts in Estonia →
The Ole valmis home checklist — power is one line of it
A backup power station solves the electricity part. The Rescue Board's full recommendation covers the rest; here is the practical household version:
- Water — 3 litres per person per day, for 3 days (so 36 l for a family of four)
- Food — 7 days of non-perishables that need no cooking (tinned fish, nuts, dried fruit, crackers)
- Power — a backup station sized to your home (this page)
- Light — LED torch per family member, headlamp for the kitchen, candles as backup
- Communications — a radio that runs on batteries (Vikerraadio reads the Rescue Board's updates)
- First aid — a stocked kit, prescription medicines for 7 days
- Documents — copies of ID, insurance, bank cards in a waterproof bag
- Warmth — sleeping bags, blankets; if you have a wood stove, keep a week of firewood dry
- Cash — enough small notes for a week, since card terminals need power
Full official list: rescue.ee/ole-valmis.
Why LiFePO4, and not a petrol generator
A petrol generator is loud, needs fuel you have to store safely, won't start reliably without maintenance, and cannot live indoors. A LiFePO4 power station is silent, lives in a cupboard, needs nothing stored next to it, and gives clean sine-wave power that is safe for a laptop, a router, a medical device or a modern fridge. The same battery chemistry is used in whole-home storage systems because it is thermally stable and safe to keep indoors. And the station earns its keep the rest of the year as a camping, suvila or festival battery.
Common questions
How often will I actually use it?
In Estonia, most years you get a few hours. One year in five you get a full day. Add the summer house and camping on top, and it is something you reach for monthly, not yearly.
Can I keep it on charge all the time?
Yes — LiFePO4 is designed for this. A station sitting plugged in and ready is exactly the point of a backup system.
Can one station power the whole house?
No. These power whatever you plug directly into them — the fridge, the router, the lamps, phones, a laptop. Electric heaters and the whole-house circuit are out of scope. For Estonia the honest plan is: keep food, communication and light; wear a jumper for a day.
What about my gas boiler or wood-stove heating?
These usually need only a few watts of electricity for pumps and controls. A TD1200 or TD2400 can keep those running for a very long time, so the house stays warm during an outage.
Will it be enough if a bigger emergency comes?
No single battery is "enough" for an open-ended emergency. The point is to cover the 72-hour window the Rescue Board plans for, and to buy you calm time to react. Beyond that, a folding solar panel plus a jerrycan of water, food and a radio is the recipe.
Start here
Pick the smallest station that covers your essentials, and treat the rest of the year as the camping and suvila season where it pays for itself.
