The Finnish state should invest in a new, large nuclear power plant, according to outgoing Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, Kai Mykkänen (NCP).
Mykkänen said that as Finland's electricity needs are growing, it will need energy sources that provide the country with a secure, steady supply.
He noted that, based on information from national grid operator Fingrid, the country's electricity needs are expected to double over the next decade.
Electricity consumption is rising as the country shifts towards renewable resources. Going forward, there are plans to use electricity for heating purposes, rather than fossil fuels.
Electricity production in Finland is already nearly emission-free.
But, according to Mykkänen, increases in wind power production as well as the country's nuclear power capacities are not enough for the expected increased consumption.
"If we consider the [consumption] growth figures, the question isn't whether it's wind or nuclear power. We need both," Mykkänen said at a press conference on Tuesday morning.
He added that Finland's newest nuclear reactor, Olkiluoto 3, enabled the expansion of the country's wind power infrastructure. Nuclear power, he said, is needed to counterbalance output fluctuations of wind turbines.
Olkiluoto 3 started commercial operations in 2022, after a 12-year delay caused by technical issues, legal disputes and cost overruns.
Both the output and market price of wind-generated electricity significantly hinge on weather conditions.
The minister said battery storage technology and other flexible solutions that even out such fluctuations are also needed.
"This isn't either-or, it is both," Mykkänen explained.
Boosting nuclear power is part of Prime Minister Petteri Orpo's (NCP) government programme, which commits to approving, in principle, all nuclear plant construction applications that meet the legal criteria.
The government aims to accelerate that goal by providing guarantees on minimum electricity prices paid to a firm that invests in a nuclear power project — it also would place a ceiling on market prices that the company could receive.
That incentive would mean a prospective company constructing a new nuclear facility would receive a minimum price for the reactor's output. In such an arrangement, the nuclear energy company would receive a minimum price for its electricity, even if market prices hit zero, or go into negative territory.
However, the arrangement also calls for the nuclear energy company to compensate electricity customers if market prices exceed the agreed price ceiling, in an arrangement described as a 'price pipeline'.
The aim of such incentives is to get construction of a major nuclear power plant underway, according to Mykkänen.
"Without it, the clean energy transition could come to a halt," he said, adding that customers could also be hit with "unreasonably drastic price fluctuations".
According to the minister, the aim is to set up a consortium of energy and industrial firms, rather than a single company.
The price pipeline would not mean additional state spending, but rather the funds would move between electricity producers and customers, according to Mykkänen.
The aim, he said, is to make the price pipeline a feature of the country's electricity market, and not affect the state budget.
Instead, the state's role would be to provide guarantees and interest rate safeguards for the consortium during construction.
"We're talking about 10 billion euros in investments and a long-term construction effort," he said.
Majority state-owned energy firm Fortum has lobbied the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment as well as the Ministry of Finance to build a new nuclear plant in Finland. The company specifically called for state funding towards that goal.
The 45-year-old Mykkänen was elected mayor of his home city of Espoo in the autumn, and is set to leave parliament to start the new job on 1 February.
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