;
2.2.2012 11:00
Current News, Electricity Market, Power System

Electricity consumption in Finland in the record figures of the winter

Fingrid’s operation control measurements indicated that the hourly average power of electricity consumption in Finland was approx. 14,000 megawatts on 1 February in the evening between 19.00 and 20.00 and today Thursday in the morning between 7.00 and 8.00. Electricity consumption in Finland has increased to the highest figures this winter as a result of the cold weather. The all-time high electricity consumption in Finland, just under 15,000 megawatts, was reached in February 2011.

The highest electricity generation capacity in Finland this winter has been approx. 11,900 megawatts, and power plants have been working without significant disturbance during the period of cold weather. Therefore, it has not been necessary to take into use any of the peak load capacity of 600 megawatts.
 
The electricity import capacity has also been sufficient, although the 350 megawatt Estlink high-voltage direct current link between Finland and Estonia experienced some restrictions as a result of fault repairs and even though a failure occurred in the 800 megawatt Fenno-Skan 2 link between Finland and Sweden this morning.
 
The import capacity from Russia has been limited as a result of high electricity consumption in Russia. The lowest import capacity from Russia today Thursday and tomorrow Friday is 500 megawatts. In addition to commercial imports, just under 200 megawatts of balancing power has been brought from Russia to replace the capacity lost as a result of disturbances on the other connections.
 
The real-time state of the Finnish power system can be viewed on Fingrid’s website from this link.
 
For more information please contact:
Timo Kaukonen, Manager, Operational Planning tel.  +358 30 395 4228 
Jyrki Uusitalo, Development Manager, tel. +358 30 395 5181