Electricity sector in Finland

The electricity sector in Finland relies on nuclear power, forest industry black liquor and wood consumption, cogeneration and electricity import from neighboring countries. In 2008 the consumption of electricity in Finland was 17 036 kWh/person. The European union (15) average was 7 409 kWh/person. According to the Finnish Minister of Finance Jyrki Katainen the consumption of electricity will increase in Finland after 2010. Co-generation of heat and electricity for industry process heat and district heating is common in Finland.

Industry was the majority consumer of electricity between 1990 and 2005 with 52-54% of total consumption. The forest industry alone consumed 30-32%.

Between 2000 and 2006, up to 7 TWh per year was imported from Sweden and up to 11.5 TWh from Russia. Net imports during this time varied between 7 TWh to Sweden and 7 TWh from Sweden, and 4 to 11 TWh from Russia. Since 2007, some electricity has also been imported from Estonia.

In 2012, most of the imports were from Sweden (14.4 TWh net import) with Russia also contributing to the net imbalance (4.4 TWh import only), while exports to Estonia were larger than imports (1.1 TWh net export).

The capacity of power stations in Finland was 12.9 GW in 2009 and 13.7 GW in 2005. The capacity of power stations in Sweden was 28.8 GW in 2009 and 27.9 GW in 2005. There is a new nuclear reactor (European Pressurized Water Reactor) under construction in Olkiluoto. The Areva/Siemens contract was scheduled for delivery in 2009, with commercial production beginning in 2010. As of March 2015^[update], the station remains under construction, with eventual production use most recently planned for 2018.

Except for peat, which is variously classed as either a fossil fuel or a slow-renewable fuel, Finland imports all the fossil fuels used for electricity production. Coal and natural gas account for most of the production, with some oil generators acting mostly as reserve. The use of fossil fuels has fallen from highs over 30% in 2003-2004 to 20% or below in 2012-2014. This is largely a consequence of cheap imported electricity, although domestic renewables have also increased in their share of production.

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