Electricity consumption to record winter levels

According to Fingrid's operational control measurements, the hourly average power of Finland's electricity consumption reached this winter’s record level of approximately 14,230 megawatts on 15 January 2021 between 8 am and 9 am. Finland produced electricity at 9,620 megawatt power and the remaining 4,610 megawatts were imported from neighbouring Sweden, Russia and Estonia. The background to this is the intense cold spell experienced by the whole country. The sufficiency of electricity was not at risk in the peak consumption situation.

At the beginning of December Fingrid assessed electricity consumption and sufficiency for the winter.:There will be plnty of electricity in Finland in the coming winter - Fingrid). The current consumption peak during the cold spell was lower than the forecast. 

Power plants have operated without significant disruptions, and the power reserve capacity has not yet started. During the peak of electricity consumption, electricity was imported from Sweden at a capacity of approximately 2,500 megawatts, from Russia at 1,470 megawatts and from Estonia at 750 megawatts.

The electricity market guides the transmission of electricity across borders. For this reason, sufficiency should be analysed for the Baltic Sea region or even Europe as a whole. The availability of imported electricity depends on the consumption of neighbouring countries and the functionality of cross-border transmission connections. The transmission connections between Finland and neighbouring countries have functioned well during the cold spell. 

The regional price of wholesale electricity in Finland between 8 am and 9 am was 80/MWh. 

Electricity consumption is expected to remain high throughout Friday, but as the temperature rises, we will return to normal electricity consumption levels.

The all-time record for electricity consumption is from winter 2016, when consumption peaked at 15,105 MWh/h.

We will monitor the situation and update the situation if necessary.

The state of the power system can be monitored on Fingrid's website at: Fingrid Online - Fingrid

Further information:

Reima Päivinen, Senior Vice President, Fingrid, tel. +358 30 395 5160

Maarit Uusitalo, Control Centre Manager,Fingrid,  tel. +358 30 395 4246