Fingrid was hit by an avalanche of applications – The law change triggered a rush to the network

The processing of connection agreement applications for electricity grid connections is badly congested by the grid company in Fingrid. According to Fingrid, applications have been arriving at an accelerating pace in recent weeks, as the project operators are trying to secure their connection within the framework of the current legislation.

The avalanche of applications is based on the draft law on amending the Electricity Market Act published by the Ministry of Labor and Economy (TEM) in September. With the reform, the connection capacity would be distributed to electricity consumption sites and electricity storages in the future, following the so-called priority procedure. According to the draft law, data centers and electricity warehouses would be at the tail end of the connection queues in this procedure.

The change in law is planned to enter into force on January 1, 2027.

Not all applications will be processed this year

Fingrid says that the grid company has received a significant number of applications in recent months, especially for data centers and electricity storage.

According to Fingrid, due to the large number of applications, their processing times have lengthened, and there will not be time to process all applications again this year.

According to the grid company, due to the limited processing capacity and the time delays of the current model, a significant part of the applications will probably not have time to respond so that a binding agreement would be created before the intended change in the law. In this case, the applications will be transferred to a new priority procedure.

According to Fingrid, the final total announced scope of the data center projects that signed the connection agreement by mid-October is more than five gigawatts in total, when projects related to distribution networks are also included.

The combined power of electric boilers under construction and in operation, on the other hand, exceeds three gigawatts, and the number of contracts for electricity storage is already almost six gigawatts.

If these projects were fully realized in about five years, according to Fingrid’s estimate, they would increase electricity consumption in Finland by up to 40 percent compared to the level of 2025.

Fingrid hopes for speedy preparation of the law and for the new procedure to enter into force as soon as possible, so that the uncertainties of the transition phase remain short-lived.

The grid company says it is preparing for the future by transferring the processing of applications to the Oma Fingrid service to improve smoothness and transparency. In addition, according to Fingrid, the area division applicable to production commitments will be published in the next few weeks.