Renewable electricity production
The growing demand for electricity is mainly covered by renewable energy, which requires strengthening the grid.
Electricity production capacity will double
Due to growing demand, electricity production will need to be increased strongly in the coming years, and electricity production capacity must more than double compared to today. Finland has an excellent opportunity to build clean electricity production, especially wind and solar power. However, construction takes time. Permit processes and municipality-specific requirements may delay construction by years, and access to the grid connection is prolonged as investments are reduced
Future generation will be decentralised and weather-dependent
The electricity production of the future will be very different from today. In the past, electricity was mainly produced in large individual urban power plants, in the future, electricity will be produced in thousands of small power plants, mainly in rural areas. In the past, electricity production could be adjusted to meet consumption needs; in the future, the majority of production will fluctuate based on the weather. Although renewable electricity generation is cheaper and more environmentally friendly than previous electricity generation, its poor controllability and lower predictability pose challenges to balancing the electricity system.
The challenges in planning the capacity of the electricity grid brought by the energy transition have a much bigger impact than just the increase of electricity consumption. Electricity consumption and electricity grids must therefore adapt to the new conditions, which requires flexibility, new technological solutions, but also constructing new grid and strengthening the existing ones. This, in turn, requires continuous and large investments.
Electricity grids are a critical enabler
Both the national grid and local distribution grids are critical to enabling the energy transition. The main grid is connected to large wind farms and electrifying heavy industry, but distribution grids also contain plenty of wind, solar, water and other power plants.
Distribution grids also enable bi-directional transmission and the connection of all new technologies, such as hundreds of thousands of electric cars and solar panels, to the electrical system. The development of technology and digitalization also steer the operations of electricity grid companies to more efficient network infrastructure management and higher-quality service.