Transition of Meri-Pori plant to security of supply postponed by month

The Finnish majority state-owned energy company Fortum and the Finnish National Emergency Supply Agency (NESA) have postponed the transition of Fortum’s Meri-Pori power plant to security of supply use by one month, said Fortum in a press release on Monday.

According to the original agreement, starting from 1 March 2024, the plant was to be dedicated for use only in the event of severe disruptions or emergencies in the electricity system.

The updated agreement now reserves the production of the power plant for NESA for the period 1 April 2024 - 31 December 2026. Without the agreement, the power plant would have been closed.

"This arrangement will reduce the risk of electricity shortages in March. The beginning of January reminded us that we need more clean, weather-proof baseload and dispatchable power generation in Finland. We are preparing a capacity mechanism along with other measures for the coming years," said Minister of Environment and Climate Change Kai Mykkänen.

"It is a strength of Finnish society that we can find solutions together in challenging situations. Cooperation with Fortum has been excellent, with the amendment to the agreement period a good example of this," said Janne Känkänen, CEO of NESA.

“This winter the electricity market has been exposed to strong volatility, and it is fortunate that our Meri-Pori power plant can continue to support security of supply still in March. At the same time, I am concerned about the periodical scarcity of electricity in the Finnish power system in the coming winters. We need a broad societal debate on what kind of electricity system we want in Finland and how we can ensure enough balancing and base load power available in our country," said Simon-Erik Ollus, Fortum's Executive Vice President for Corporate Customers and Markets.