Sufficient electricity in Finland next winter too
The aim of self-sufficiency with regard to electricity production is still challenging for Finland, and our dependency on imports has increased in situations of peak consumption. Next winter on a very cold day, the shortfall in domestic production will be more than 15% of consumption, i.e. about 2,500 MW.- With regard to next winter, there is no need to worry about the sufficiency of electricity. A prerequisite for that is, however, that Finnish power plants and transmission connections with all neighbouring countries are available, says Jukka Ruusunen, President & CEO of Fingrid.
According to Ruusunen, for several years now a situation has prevailed in Finland in which reasonably-priced electricity is imported from Sweden to Finland in large quantities. Owing to the market situation, domestic condensing power plants have been closed and, in situations of peak consumption in winter, an increasing amount of imported electricity is also required.
- The international electricity market will continue to direct electricity to where it is most needed. As demand increases, electricity is being directed to Finland from all directions. In severe frost, the regional price in Finland may rise to a high level. As the price rises, it is assumed that the consumption of electricity becomes more elastic, which eases the situation. The market efficiently takes care of balancing supply and demand, but there must be the necessary backup plans in case of unexpected situations like a failure, says Ruusunen.
Next winter, Finland’s electricity consumption is expected to increase to 15,000 MW. The calculation is based on the peak of consumption on 24 January this year, when the requirement for power was about 14,300 MW in the morning when the temperature was -17 °C. At that time, Finland generated 11,600 MW of power and the remaining 2,600 MW was imported from neighbouring countries.
The peak in consumption depends strongly on the temperature, and a 10-degree fall in temperature increases electricity consumption by 1,000 – 1,500 MW. If the temperature in Finland is -25 °C, the consumption peak will then climb to about 15,000 MW.
During times of peak consumption, it is estimated that there is about 12,500 MW of domestic electricity production capacity available. In addition to commercial production, this also includes two power plants in power reserve, which can provide a total of 365 MW.
Imported power at record levels in Finland
Fingrid’s transmission connections from Sweden have been in heavy use this year. Between January and October, 15.2 terawatts of electricity were imported from Sweden, which is 53% more than the previous year. In the same period, electricity consumption in Finland totalled 68 terawatt hours. The share of electricity imported from Sweden was thus 22.4% of Finland’s total consumption of electricity.
Electricity is also imported from Russia. With regard to Estonia, the prevailing direction of transmission has been export. Transmission volumes have, however, fluctuated strongly on daily and hourly bases.
Winter 2014-2015 production capacity, consumption and electricity deficit The arrows show the production capacities of transmission connections from neighbouring countries.
Fingrid’s traditional System Security Day is being held on Tuesday 25 November at the Paasitorni Congress Centre. The topics of the day deal with, among other things, emergency supply and the VALVE major disturbance exercise held in Rovaniemi and how society managed to cope with a long power outage.
The speeches at Fingrid’s system security seminar can be followed online through webcasting. The seminar programme will begin at 1.00 pm, and can be followed live online until 4.00 pm or later as a video recording.
Further information:
Jukka Ruusunen, President & CEO, tel. 040 593 8428
Senior Vice President Reima Päivinen, tel. 040 556 2662
Webcasting broadcast from the System Security Day (link also on the www.fingrid.fi website) http://www.goodmood.fi/webcaster/accounts/fingrid/live/