In the spring, the Finnish energy agency Energiavirasto found that this winter there will be no need for electricity capacity reserves, which is the reason for the current crisis in security of supply. The plant was not used even during last winter’s energy crisis, Helsingin Sanomat wrote on Saturday.
Officials warned on Thursday of the possibility of electricity shortages and urged Finns to reduce electricity consumption. At the same time, Finland has prepared rules for such situations, on the basis of which Energiavirasto purchases reserve capacity from energy companies in case electricity consumption exceeds market-based electricity production. Backup power plants are ready to produce electricity for a maintenance fee if necessary.
However, this system is not currently in use because Energiavirasto decided in April that it is not necessary to acquire reserve capacity for the period from November 2023 to October 2024, HS wrote.
The Energy Agency made this decision because in the spring it found that the commissioning of the Olkiluoto 3 nuclear power plant, in particular, reduces concerns about the sufficiency of electricity.
At the same time, the state would not have activated the reserve on Friday if it had existed.
“Even though prices are high, the situation on Friday would not have been such that the electricity reserve would have been used even if it had been there. There was no shortage of electricity,” said Antti Paananen, director of the Energy Agency, and explained that the reserve is not intended to keep electricity prices low.
According to Helsingin Sanomat, the Finnish electricity market functioned according to market conditions on Friday: the high price of electricity caused demand elasticity, i.e. electricity consumers reduced consumption more than expected.
The power reserve was not even used during last winter’s energy crisis, because the energy agency only received one offer from energy companies. Fortum offered the Meri-Pori coal plant as an energy reserve, but the agency rejected the offer as too expensive.
The electricity reserve system was created in Finland in 2007. The reserve was used only once, in the winter of 2010.
2024-01-06 10:07:00
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