The former anchor owner of Fennovoima is now worried: Straight words about the Finnish electricity market

Finland’s largest electricity user, a steel company Outokumpu hasn’t really suffered from the Middle East crisis so far, said the CEO Kati ter Horst On the broadcast of Talousamu on Wednesday.

“There is an increase in transportation costs and it will certainly continue into the second quarter as well. Outokumpu is helped by the fact that we have protected ourselves quite well from the price of energy,” he enthused.

Most of Outokumpu’s energy needs are low-carbon electricity.

“The supply chains are quite strong, the energy situation is strong. But of course if the situation drags on, it will affect growth prospects, customers and probably also the demand for our products.”

In the broadcast, Ter Horst reiterated his concern that future electricity-hungry data center investments will create a shadow for industrial investments in the pipeline in Finland.

“It would be important for Finland to have an open and fact-based discussion about what the Finnish electricity system looks like in the longer term. It’s about what the price of industrial electricity will be in 20 years, we need to see that investment environment.”

Ter Horst pointed out that the industry cannot live on wind power alone. Data centers don’t have much flexibility either.

“We are still the biggest user of electricity in Finland, about four percent of Finland’s electricity production. But another large steel or aluminum factory would be an even bigger user of electricity.”

Would Outokumpu still invest in energy?

Can Outokumpu not make investments in Finland because the price of electricity would develop unfavorably?

“We have to look at that when we move forward. It’s a question of the entire investment environment and it’s always compared to opportunities in other countries.”

In the interview, it was also stated that the country’s government’s recent decisions on the mining tax, the electricity tax category for mines, and the removal of the electrification subsidy clearly increase the costs of the steel company Outokumpu.

Ter Horst said that a discussion is now being held between Finnish producers and users about energy sufficiency in the future.

Would Outokumpu itself be ready to participate in energy investments?

Ter Horst had a direct answer to this.

“Outokumpu is not ready to get involved in energy investments. The reason is simply that it is not our competence.”

However, Outokumpu is looking for a partner who would build a small nuclear power plant near the company’s Tornio steel plant.

A tricky nuclear memory

Outokumpu undoubtedly has difficult memories of nuclear power projects.

The company was strongly involved from the beginning Fenno power in the northern nuclear power project, whose plant supplier changed in the middle of the trip to the Russian state Rosatom.

The project was at stake, because the Finnish government required stronger Finnish ownership in the project with the inclusion of Rosatom. We didn’t want to find one, because the outlook for electricity prices also cast doubt on the business world. The issue has already strained the relationship between Finland and Russiauntil a few Finnish companies saved the project in 2015.

In this context, Outokumpu promised to increase its ownership of the nuclear power plant to approximately 14 percent through Voimaosakeyhtiö SF.

In the same context For Fortum hydroelectric plants were promised from Russia in exchange for its Fennovoima investments, but these were never heard.

The entire Fennovoima project collapsed shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine. Since then, the parties have visited messy legal battle. Outokumpu wrote down its investment to zero already in 2021.

Watch the entire interview and Talousaamu’s broadcast here: