Russia turns off the electricity to the Finns. However, the NATO accession candidate does not expect supply bottlenecks. A “healthy” electricity mix and the “yes” to nuclear power among the population let the Russian energy threats fade away.
As of today, Saturday, no more Russian electricity is to flow to Finland. The reason for this are outstanding payments for electricity supplies from the neighboring country. This was announced by the energy company RAO Nordic Oy on Friday. The Helsinki-based subsidiary of the Russian group InterRAO said there was no way to pay the electricity import bills.
What would cause a stir in other countries seems to be dismissed by the Finns with a shrug. The reason for this composure: In Finland, people prepared for this event early on and – unlike in Germany – focused more on an energy mix. Also on nuclear power.
As early as April, the semi-public network operator Fingrid had already reduced Russian electricity imports by a quarter – for security reasons. “We were prepared for it,” said Fingrid manager Timo Kaukonen of the AFP news agency. He does not expect any supply problems. “We can handle a little more imports from Sweden and Norway.”
In 2021, the Finns were still importing around ten percent of their electricity requirements from Russia. A diverse electricity mix and the commissioning of a new nuclear reactor reduce this earlier dependency.
Nuclear reactor “Olkiluoto 3” should compensate for Russian electricity imports
The new reactor “Olkiluoto 3” should already be able to compensate for half of the Russian electricity imports. If it runs at full capacity, it should be able to completely replace the Russian import electricity as early as June, according to experts. The reactor should then cover an estimated 14 percent of Finland’s total electricity needs.
Olkiluoto is one of the two nuclear power plants in Finland. The plant is located on the west coast of Finland, around 250 kilometers north-west of Helsinki. OL3 was actually supposed to go into operation in 2009, but there were repeated delays and increased construction costs.
Net electricity generation in Finland consists of a mix of different energy sources. In 2021, around 35 percent of electricity was generated from nuclear energy. About 22 percent was generated by run-of-river power plants, 12 percent by onshore wind, 10 percent by biomass and around 16 percent by natural gas, hard coal and peat together. The share of electricity generation from renewable energies was around 45 percent in Finland in 2021.
For comparison: According to the Federal Statistical Office, around 30 percent of electricity from coal was fed into the grid in Germany in 2021. That is almost a quarter more electricity from coal than in the previous year. Around 40 percent of this is hard coal, which is covered by imports. Germany gets more than 50 percent of its coal from Russia.
The share of renewable energies in electricity generation, on the other hand, fell from around 47 percent to around 42 percent in 2021 compared to 2020. The amount of electricity fed in from wind power, for example, was 21.5 percent. The share of natural gas electricity was almost 13 percent. The share of electricity generated from nuclear energy was also just under 13 percent.
In comparison, Germany’s dependence on Russia for the electricity supply is greater than that of the Finns, since large parts of the electricity required in this country are generated from coal, for example. And this comes in large quantities from Russia.
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It is certainly also helpful in the current situation: around half of Finns would like more nuclear energy. Tailwind that doesn’t exist in Germany. According to a YouGov survey, only one in five (22 percent) believe that nuclear energy should be given equal weight with renewable energy sources such as solar or wind energy.
