Freezing cold temperatures may clear the clouds away, but the need for electricity peaks at times like these at over 14 thousand megawatts. With consumption rates like this, Finland needs a full one-quarter more electricity capacity that it can provide on its own.
”Domestic grid capacity is fully utilised at present and transfer from Sweden and Norway has also reached its limits, although there is some flexibility from the Estonian and Russian supply,” says Jukka Ruusunen, CEO of Finland’s electricity transmission operator Fingrid.
Reduction in coal plants removes reserve options
Electricity production has been regulated with coal in the past. Now there are fewer domestic reserves than last winter however, as power company Fortum discontinued its Inkoo coal plant in early December for financial reasons. Plant operations cease in February.
”Of course it would be easier if facilities that give us more leeway would be part of our production grid, but for understandable financial and environmental reasons, we choose not to retain these kinds of facilities in the future,” says Ruusunen.
Does the dependence on imports put services at risk?
Energy industry advocacy groups would prefer to see Finland self-reliant in this matter.
Jukka Leskelä, Director of the Finnish Energy Industries, says, “It is not only a problem that we have constructed a situation where we purchase and pay others for our electricity, but also that we may be presented with the problem that we don’t have the capacity to produce the electricity that we need. For this reason, it is a matter of service security as well.”
"Don’t turn the sauna on first thing in the morning"
Winter consumption peaks should be compensated from Finland’s own energy reserves when the third reactor at the Olkiluoto nuclear plant is finally completed.
But what can consumers do to curb their electricity consumption? Fingrid’s Ruusunen suggests that Finns wait until after eight in the evening to switch on their sauna, when prices are considerably lower.