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6.6.2015 16:10
Current News, Electricity Market, Press Releases

Electricity exported commercially to Russia for the first time on 7 June 2015

On 7 June 2015, Finland exported electricity commercially to Russia for the first time at a power of 140 megawatts between 9 am and 10 pm.

​The commercial export of electricity to Russia became possible at the end of 2014 when Fingrid and the Russian national grid parties signed agreements enabling bidirectional trade in electricity between Finland and Russia. Previously power transmission along the 400 kV cross-border lines only worked in one direction from Russia to Finland. 

In Finland, the price of electricity is determined by the Nordic Nord Pool electricity exchange. In Russia, the price is affected not only by the Russian electricity exchange price, but also by a capacity charge, which is added to the market price whenever electricity is exported from Russia. The bidirectional connection will also ensure electricity supply reliability in the St Petersburg region.

The export of electricity from Finland to Russia was previously tested successfully through a transmission connection between the countries. In export trade, one of the four 350 megawatt DC units at Vyborg can be used for the transmission of electricity to Russia from Finland. 320 megawatts is given for commercial use and the rest is used for reserve trade.

In transmission the other way from Russia to Finland, a total of 1,400 megawatts of electricity can be transmitted, 1,300 megawatts of which is in commercial use. Power transmission between the countries mainly takes place using the DC connection at Vyborg.
 
In recent years, Finland has imported a great deal of electricity but, at the same time, the amount of electricity being imported to Finland from Russia has reduced significantly in comparison with previous years. The amounts imported from Russia have, however, varied greatly within a 24-hour period. Instead of electricity from Russia, Finland has imported exceptionally much electricity from the other Nordic countries.
 
Further information:
Planning Manager Timo Kaukonen, tel. +358 30 395 4228 or +358 40 545 2124 (statement provider on-call at weekends)
 
Jukka Ruusunen, President & CEO, tel. +358 30 395 5140
or +358 40 593 8428
Executive Vice President, Electricity Markets Juha Kekkonen, tel. +358 30 395 5120 or +358 40 519 5274