This is a best prospect industry sector for this country. Includes a market overview and trade data.
Overview
Finland is one of the world’s northern-most industrialized nations and Finland’s energy consumption per capita and energy needs are high due to its energy-intensive industry, cold climate, and high standard of living.
Finland does not have its own fossil fuels – coal, oil, or natural gas – but it does have wood-based fuels, rich reserves of peat, and extensive wood resources. The Government of Finland has set an objective to make Finland carbon-neutral by 2035 and carbon-negative soon after that. The key pillar of Finland’s national climate policy is the Climate Change Act that entered into force on 1 June 2015. The Act also lays down provisions on a climate policy planning system and on monitoring the achievement of climate objectives. The Act is currently under review and is likely to introduce carbon neutrality targets, i.e., a balance between emissions and sinks. Finland’s Climate and Energy Strategy and Medium-term Climate Change Policy Plan will also be updated during 2022.
On an international scale, both energy production and usage in Finland are efficient. Energy-intensive industries have long played a large role in the Finnish economy, and this has spurred the development of efficiency-driven energy systems.
Finland is a world leader in smart grid technology. This is due to the early adoption of related technologies such as household specific, remotely readable, accurate electricity consumption metering and real-time power grid failure monitoring. This has led to improved energy use information for customers and real-time billing. Finland is now moving towards the next step of smart grid technologies to meet the increased volume of small-scale generation, customer-level energy storage, electric vehicles, and controllable loads with the intention of putting consumers “at the heart” of their energy and efficiency measures.
Finland has long had significant energy ties to Russia. In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Finland is reassessing its energy relationship with Russia, seeking to terminate existing arrangements and to identify alternatives for future projects.
|
Energy Consumption by Energy Source |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
2020 |
2021* |
||
|
|
TWh |
% |
TWh |
% |
|
Total Energy Consumption |
354.7 |
100 % |
376.6 |
100% |
|
Of which Wood fuels |
98.7 |
27.8 % |
111.7 |
29.7 % |
|
Of which Oil |
74.3 |
20.9 % |
71.8 |
19.1 % |
|
Of which Nuclear Energy |
67.8 |
19.1 % |
68.6 |
18.2 % |
|
Of which Coal |
19.5 |
5.5 % |
23.4 |
6.2 % |
|
Of which Natural Gas |
20.7 |
5.8 % |
20.4 |
5.4 % |
|
Of which Peat |
12 |
3.4 % |
10.3 |
2.7 % |
|
Of which Hydro and Wind Power |
23.6 |
6.6 % |
23.7 |
6.3 % |
|
Net Imports of Electricity |
15.1 |
4.3 % |
17.8 |
4.7 % |
|
Others |
23.4 |
6.6 % |
29 |
7.7 % |
|
Electricity Production by Energy Source |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
2020 |
2021* |
||
|
|
TWh |
% |
TWh |
% |
|
Total Electricity Production |
67 |
100 % |
69 |
100 % |
|
Of which Biomass |
11 |
16.4 % |
13.5 |
19.5 % |
|
Of which Oil |
0.3 |
0.4 % |
0.2 |
0.3 % |
|
Of which Nuclear Energy |
22.5 |
33.6 % |
22.7 |
32.9 % |
|
Of which Coal |
2.8 |
4.2 % |
3.1 |
4.5 % |
|
Of which Natural Gas |
3.8 |
5.7 % |
3.4 |
4.9 % |
|
Of which Peat |
2 |
3 % |
1.4 |
2.1 % |
|
Of which Hydro and Wind Power |
23.7 |
35.4 % |
23.6 |
34.2 % |
|
Others |
0.9 |
1.3 % |
1.1 |
1.6 % |
Source: Stats.fi, *preliminary information
Leading Sub-Sectors
Nuclear
The key nuclear power operators in Finland are: Fortum Oyj, a Finnish state-owned energy company and operator of the Loviisa NPP; TVO Oyj (Teollisuuden Voima Oyj), operating the Olkiluoto NPP; and Fennovoima, owned by Voimaosakeyhtiö SF (66%) and RAOS Voima Oy (34%), a subsidiary of JSC Rusatom Energy International, a subsidiary of Russian Rosatom (see below re Fennovoima’s current status). STUK, the Nuclear Safety Authority is the regulatory body in charge of supervising radiation and nuclear safety in Finland.
As of June 2022, Finland has four operating nuclear reactors in two power plants and a fifth is expected to be on-line in early fall, all located on the shores of the Baltic Sea. Three of the reactors are located in Olkiluoto out of which OL1 and OL2 are ASEA-Atom, Boiling Water Reactors and OL3 is an AREVA NP, Siemens AG, ERP (European Pressurized Water Reactor. The other two operating generators are VVER-440 V213 (Western I&C system and containment) Pressurized Water Reactors located at the Loviisa nuclear plant. The reactors provided 32.9 percent (22.7 TWh) of the total electricity generated in the country. There are no inactive reactors in Finland.
A sixth nuclear power plant, the Hanhikivi 1 NPP project in northern Finland, to be led by Fennovoima, was in the works. The project was plagued by scheduling delays and cost overruns. In May 2022, Fennovoima announced of its decision to terminate the project.
Finland also sees Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) as potential options for developing clean energy production, and is developing an EcoSMR ecosystem for the development of SMR technologies, both for domestic use within Finland and for export to SMR projects globally.
Renewable Energy
Finland is one of the world leaders in the utilization of renewable sources of energy, especially bioenergy. The key target in promoting renewable energy is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and move away from an energy system based on fossil fuels. Renewable energy sources already represent about 40 percent of energy end-consumption and the aim set in the National Energy and Climate Strategy to 2030 is to increase such use to more than 50 percent during the 2020s.
The use of renewable energy is influenced by Finland’s own energy and climate policies, the obligations and policy decisions under European Union climate and energy legislation, which have the EU committed to achieving climate neutrality by 2050. These are binding for Finland impacting the market opportunities.
The most important forms of renewable energy used in Finland are bioenergy; fuels from forest industry side streams and other wood-based fuels, hydropower, wind power and ground heat. Bioenergy is also generated from biodegradable waste and side streams of agriculture and industrial production and from municipal waste. Solar electricity has a growing role especially where on-site energy generation substitutes for energy bought from the grid. Solar heating is used as a supplement to the main heating system.
According to Statistics Finland’s preliminary data for energy, the total consumption of energy in 2020 amounted to 1.28 million terajoules (TJ), which corresponded to a drop of six percent compared to 2019. Although the total electricity consumption fell to its lowest in 20 years, by contrast, renewable production of hydro, wind and solar power increased. The share of renewable energy continued to grow, being 44.6 per cent of total final energy consumption. Fingrid, Finland’s grid transmission system operator, is developing Finland’s main grid to provide a platform for a clean, emission-free power system with the flexibility to incorporate multiple resources in terms of frequency, transmission, and voltage management.
Wood-based fuels: Bioenergy has a key role in the production of renewable energy. Bioenergy production is largely integrated into the forestry and forest industry. In recent years, energy derived from wood fuels has accounted for around one fourth of Finland’s total energy consumption. Most wood fuels are by-products of the forest industry, including black liquor derived from the pulp-making process and bark, sawdust, and other industrial wood residues. Logging residues and other low value biomass from harvesting operations are also used for energy generation.
In 2021, wood fuels covered 30 percent of total energy consumption and they were the most used energy source.
Hydro power: Emission-free electricity generated by hydropower presented 22 percent of the total share of electricity generation in 2021.
Wind power: Wind power construction in Finland began later than in many other European countries. However, in recent years wind power construction has gained momentum and national construction and production statistics have set new records year after year. At the end of 2021, there were 962 installed wind turbine generators in Finland, with a combined capacity of 3257 MW generating less than 10 percent of Finland’s electricity consumption in 2021.
Geothermal energy: Geothermal energy (or geo-energy as it often called in Finland) has taken remarkable jumps forward during the last five years. A heat pump boom started with air-coupled heat pumps, which are still popular and remain the most sold. But the trend is shifting more and more to Ground Source Heat Pumps (GSHPs) both in small scale/residential use and in large scale projects. Geo-energy is expected to take an even greater share of the renewable energy palette in the years to come.
Solar: Despite its northern location annual solar heat production in conditions in Finland is only in about 20 percent smaller than that of northern Italy. Annual irradiation levels are in the same magnitude as in Germany. The main technical challenges in Finland are related to intermittency of available solar energy (day-night and summer-winter cycles), particularly in the Nordic region. The share of solar power generation in Finland doubled in 2020, but the share is still modest of the nation’s total power generation.
Opportunities
Finnish Wind Power Association: Wind power projects
EcoSMR: Internationally networked Finnish ecosystem dedicated to the development of small modular reactors (SMRs)
TED (Tenders Electronic Daily) online version of ‘Supplement to the Official Journal’ of the EU, dedicated to European public procurement. Finnish energy companies use open tenders as required by European Union (EU) regulations.
Energia, October 25-27, 2022, in Tampere is the largest biennial energy industry trade event. Focus on energy transition; energy production, power transmission and storage.
EnergyWeek, March 20-24, 2023 in Vaasa focuses on renewable energy, smart energy, and gas energy. Focus on digitalization, batteries and storage, circular economy, future smart cities, energy regulation, business, and innovation.
Resources
Statistics Finland, Energy 2021
Statistics Finland, Environment and Natural Resources
Information
Interested parties may contact Senior Commercial Specialist mia.maki@trade.gov (local contact)