Helsingin Sanomat covered Finland's fluctuating electricity market and interviewed an executive from Fortum, Finland's largest energy firm.
The official line in the industry is that volatility in the market is beneficial, fostering affordable renewable energy production and flexible consumption.
However, Fortum's corporate customers and markets EVP, Simon-Erik Ollus, challenged this view. He told the paper that the high efficiency of the Nordic and Finnish electricity market, while producing cheap electricity, leads to a lack of spare capacity and extreme price fluctuations. Last week saw momentary record high spot prices reach 2.35 euros per kilowatt hour (KWh). In contrast, last year, there were 11 days where the average spot price was actually negative.
Ollus told HS that he believes negative electricity prices and exorbitant prices during peak demand are market disturbances, signalling underlying issues.
"The Nordic electricity system, where you only pay for the energy you produce, is exceptional in the world. In many countries, the system has a capacity market alongside the energy market, which creates stability," he said.
Finland's current energy market pays electricity producers for the electricity they have generated in KWh, while a capacity market pays electricity producers for the energy output that they promise to make available in Watts (W). This also means that electricity producers are paid ahead of time, which can create more stable energy investments, Ollus said.
Unlike the current system, a capacity market would incentivise investments in power generation that offer more than just cheap electricity.
Ollus proposed that a Finnish capacity market would involve Finland's grid operator Fingrid. It would also mean purchasing a predetermined amount of weather-independent production from the cheapest provider for a year.
This production would receive a fixed compensation to ensure its presence in the market. The goal would then be to maintain sufficient weather-independent production to meet high-demand situations.
Ollus also noted that Finland's highly volatile electricity market could deter investments in the country.
"We also have large industrial clients. In these discussions it has become clear that very few people want to build, for example, hydrogen electrolysers [with such volatile electricity production]," he told HS, adding that emission-free electricity should be available "24/7".
Questions surround SPP future leadership
Tabloid Iltalehti covered a potential leadership dispute rising in the Swedish People's Party (SPP).
The party's chair and the Minister of Education, Anna-Maja Henriksson, told Hufvudstadsbladet just before Christmas that she was considering standing in June's European Parliament elections. She intends to announce her decision by the end of January. Henriksson's announcement has caused a stir in the party, which she has led since 2016.
SPP Deputy and MP Henrik Wickström said the announcement came as a surprise to him and that he considers it important for Henriksson to announce her decision soon.
The current SPP MEP Nils Torvalds does not plan to stand again and said he has no interest in reentering domestic politics.
Part of the unease is due to the SPP wanting to field a candidate in the upcoming European election, having decided against nominating a candidate for the upcoming presidential election.
At the same time, the party appears to be split in its support of presidential candidates.
For example, Wickström has pledged his support to Alexander Stubb (NCP), while Eva Biaudet (SPP) is putting her support behind Pekka Haavisto (Green).
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Defence ministry rejections
Tabloid Ilta-Sanomat covered Finland's Defence Ministry issuing three negative decisions on real estate transactions close to Finland's border with Russia by buyers from outside EU and EEA countries.
Defence Minister Antti Häkkänen (NCP) announced the decision concerning properties in Ilomantsi in North Karelia and Sotkamo in Kainuu on Wednesday.
Defence ministry documents seen by IS showed that the Ilomantsi property bid came from a company called Tornado Logistics, a Finnish company co-owned by Russian citizen Oleg Fokin.
According to the trade register, the firm has several business activities, including transport, forwarding and logistics services.
According to the defence ministry, the real estate complexes and their locations are important for the operational requirements of the national defence and the control and protection of territorial integrity. They are also located very close to a railway yard.
Fokin is a former Russian politician who served as chair of the Petrozavodsk City Council. According to a report by Yle, in 2015 he was convicted in Russia for fraud after receiving illegal VAT refunds.
The second and third real estate transactions concerned commercial properties in Sotkamo, where the Ministry of Defence said that the applicant failed to provide the necessary information during the permit process.
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