Fingrid reduces cap on imports of electricity from Russia

Finnish transmission system operator Fingrid on Sunday limited the power import capacity on Finland’s cross-border connections to Russia to 900 MW from 1,300 MW previously in order to secure the power system.

The decision to restrict the import capacity, announced on Friday, has been taken after an evaluation of the risks to the Finnish power system in the changing international situation. The new limit took effect at 0100 local time on April 24.

The maximum export capacity from Finland to Russia remains at 320 MW. The transmission capacities in other cross-border connections will remain unchanged.

Fingrid said it will also reduce to zero the transmission capacities of the connections to Russia during the commissioning tests for the Olkiluoto 3 nuclear reactor. The TSO will specify the precise times of these restrictions when the testing programme of Finnish nuclear power company Teollisuuden Voima Oyj is updated.

On announcing its results for the first quarter of 2022 in a separate release on Friday, Fingrid said it is prepared for the cessation of electricity imports from Russia.

“The end of imports will increase demand for domestic electricity production, increase the need to import more electricity from Sweden and may decrease electricity exports to Estonia,” commented president and CEO Jukka Ruusunen. It is also expected to increase the cost of acquiring electricity system reserves to some extent, as purchasing reserves from Russia will not longer be an option.

Last week, the Finnish parliament started the debate over joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

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