Growing electricity consumption is an opportunity for Finland

From the reader. Network company Fingrid recently estimated that Finland’s electricity consumption could increase by almost 40 percent from the level of 2025, if all the projects that signed the accession agreement are implemented in full. According to Fingrid, such a large growth would probably take at least five years. The growth is particularly accelerated by data centers and electric boiler plants.

The scale is considerable. The total planned scope of the data center projects that signed the accession agreement is already almost five gigawatts, and the combined power of the electric boiler projects under construction or in operation has exceeded three gigawatts.

The rapid growth rightfully raises questions about the capacity of the electricity network, the adequacy of production and the price of electricity. However, the discussion should also be turned the other way: what would it mean for Finland if electricity consumption did not increase at all?

Growth challenges can be solved

The growing demand for electricity indicates new investments and the electrification of society. Electricity replaces fossil fuels in heating and industry, for example. At the same time, a completely new electricity-intensive business will be born in Finland.

This is an opportunity for the Finnish economy. New clean electricity production is not born in a vacuum waiting for users, because investment decisions require visibility into future demand. Growing electricity consumption can therefore speed up new production investments, which in turn strengthen Finland’s conditions for attracting more electricity-intensive industry.

Still, growth does not come without challenges. The more the electricity system is based on weather-dependent production, the more important the timing of production and consumption becomes. Wind and solar power production varies, while a large part of industry’s electricity use has traditionally been steady.

Therefore, the old logic of the electrical system is changing. Simply adapting production to consumption is no longer enough, but consumption must also be able to flex according to production and the network situation.

We already have solutions for this: energy reserves, local production and consumption flexibility can even out consumption spikes. With the help of automation, the use of electricity can be directed to moments when electricity is more available and is more affordable. At the same time, the capacity of the existing electricity network can be used more efficiently.

The increase in electricity consumption is a good problem

The goal should therefore not be to prevent the growth of electricity consumption, but to enable it in a controlled manner. It requires simultaneous investments in power generation, networks, control capacity and flexibility.

Finland’s competitive advantage does not come from using as little electricity as possible. It arises from the fact that we are able to produce plenty of clean electricity and use it more intelligently than others.

If electricity consumption really increases strongly in the coming years, it is a good problem to solve. It would be more worrying if the investments that generate demand for electricity were not realized.