FINLAND

1. ENERGY, ECONOMIC AND ELECTRICITY INFORMATION

1.1. General Overview

Finland (in Finnish Suomi) is a republic in northern Europe, bounded on the north by Norway, on the east by Russia, on the south by the Gulf of Finland and Estonia, on the south-west by the Baltic Sea and on the west by the Gulf of Bothnia and Sweden. Nearly one third of the country lies north of the Arctic Circle. The area of Finland, including 31 557 km2 of inland water, totals 338 000 km2. The terrain is generally level, hilly areas are more prominent in the north and mountains are found only in the extreme north-west.

The average July temperature in the capital Helsinki on the southern coast is 17 °C. The February average in Helsinki is about -5.7 °C. The corresponding figures at Sodankylä (Lapland) in the northern Finland are 14.1 °C and -13.6 °C. Precipitation (snow and rain) averages about 460 mm in the north and 710 mm in the south. Snow covers the ground for four to five months a year in the south, and about seven months in the north.

Finland has a population of 5.2 million and an average population density of 17 per km2 of land. Historical population data is shown in Table 1. The predicted annual population growth rate between the years 1998 and 2010 is 0.21 %. More than two thirds of the population reside in the southern third of the country.

In Finland the total primary energy consumption per capita was about 65% higher than the European Union average (according to 2001 statistics) and about 39% higher than the OECD average. This is mainly due to the weather, which demands space heating for most of the time, and the structure of the industry, which is energy intensive processing industry (wood, especially paper, heavy metal and chemical). A third factor is relatively high transportation requirements per capita caused by the low population density.

TABLE 1. POPULATION INFORMATION

Source: IAEA Energy and Economic Database.

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is given in Table 2.

Finland's energy mix is diverse and well balanced, and many of its power plants can be optimised for up to three different fuels. About 40 per cent of all Finnish homes are connected to district heating networks. In 2002, 75 per cent of all district heat was produced in combined heat and power plants.

TABLE 2. GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (GDP)

Source:IAEA Energy and Economic Database.

Finland is highly dependent on foreign energy supplies. Crude oil and oil products constitute a major part of imported energy. Other main fuels imported to Finland are coal and natural gas. During the last years the imports of gas have had the fastest growth rate. Discussions on the possibility to expand the use of natural gas by adding a redundant source primarily from the Norwegian offshore deposits have continued, but are unlikely to lead to solution increasing the gas import to Finland during the next decade. Also alternative routes to gas supply sources in Russia are under investigation.

The primary indigenous energy resources in Finland are hydro power, wood, wood waste, pulping liqueurs and peat. The peat resources are about 800-1000 Mtoe and reserves are estimated at 280 Mtoe. These could be exploited with an annual rate of 4.0-4.7 Mtoe for about 60 years. The use of wood and wood based fuels in 2002 was 6.7 Mtoe corresponding to 20 % of the total primary energy consumption. Unexploited hydropower reserves are estimated to correspond to an annual production of the order of 7.0-8.5 TWh. However, most of the unharnessed river areas are either nature reserves or frontier rivers or tiny waterfalls.

Indigenous fuels and hydropower cover about 30% of the energy demand. Finland imports all of its oil, natural gas, coal and uranium. Total demand for primary energy in 2002 was 33.5 Mtoe (1.40 EJ) and the different energy sources used are given in Table 3. The long-term trend of energy supply from 1970 onwards is depicted in Figure 1. The 2002 energy use in per cent is given in Table 4.

  TABLE 3. PRIMARY ENERGY SOURCES IN 2002a

^a Using the definition adopted by the IEA and the CEC (nuclear power is converted into primary energy with a 33 % gross efficiency, and hydro and wind power as well as imported electricity with 100 % efficiency). This definition has been applied in Finland since 1997.

High proportion of energy-intensive processing industries and high requirements for space heating and long transportation distances make the total energy consumption per capita in Finland one of the highest in the OECD area. In 2001, the primary energy consumption per capita in Finland was 6.5 toe. The historical energy statistics are given in Tables 5 and 6.

TABLE 4. 2002 ENERGY USE

FIG. 1. Energy Supplies in Finland

TABLE 5. PRIMARY ENERGY SOURCES

Source: Ministry of Trade and Industry (Finland), Energy Review 2/2003. The definitions of the CEC are employed for conversion of nuclear, hydro, wind and imported (net) electricity into primary energy

TABLE 6. ENERGY STATISTICS(*)