Welcome to IEA Wind Member Country Activities Finland for 2011

In Finland, 27% of electricity consumption was provided by renewables in 2010. Finland’s generating capacity is diverse. In 2011, 26% of gross demand was produced by nuclear, 15% by hydropower, 31% from combined heat and power (coal, gas, biomass, and peat), 11% from direct power production from mainly coal and gas, and 16% from imports. Biomass is used intensively by the pulp and paper industry, raising the share of biomass-produced electricity to 11% in Finland. The electricity demand, which is dominated by energy-intensive industry, was reduced by 4% in 2011, with a total of 84.4 TWh.

Finland aims to increase the share of renewables from 28.5% to 38% of gross energy consumption to fulfill the EU 20% target in 2020. The national energy strategy foresees biomass as providing most of the increase in renewables. The hydropower resource has the potential for only about 1 TWh/yr more. This makes wind power the second largest source of new renewables in Finland, with a target of 6 TWh/yr in 2020.

Wind energy potential is located mostly on coastal areas. There is a huge technical potential offshore, with ample shallow sites available. Wind energy deployment has been very slow, but setting the target of 6 TWh/yr for 2020 (2,500 MW) and a market based feed-in tariff system starting in 2011 has led to a rush for the best sites. At the end of 2011, a total of 199 MW were installed, producing about 0.5 TWh, or 0.6% of gross demand in Finland. At the beginning of 2012, there were 3,300 MW of wind power projects in various phases of planning onshore, and 3,000 MW of announced projects offshore.

A market based feed-in premium with a guaranteed price of 83.5 EUR/MWh (108 USD/MWh) entered into force on 25 March 2011. There will be an increased tariff of 105.3 EUR/MWh (136.3 USD/MWh) through the end of 2015 (maximum three years). The difference between the guaranteed price and spot price of electricity will be paid to the producers as a premium.

Wind power technology exports from Finland have been about 0.8 billion EUR (1.03 billion USD). The wind turbine manufacturer WinWinD developed further the ice prevention system for its 3-MW turbines. Mervento built its first 3.6-MW, direct-drive wind turbine in Vaasa. Moventas is developing its gearboxes for larger turbines, and ABB and The Switch are developing generator and frequency converter solutions for wind power. Ruukki Oy provides steel materials and structures and has launched a lattice tower up to 140 m in height.