Coal-powered electricity and heat generation has risen by 8 percent in the first nine months of this year, Statistics Finland has reported.
Altogether, the Nordic country used some 1,277 tons of hard coal to generate electricity and heat between January and September.
The news comes as Finland is bracing itself for rolling power cuts this winter during an energy crisis caused by cuts in Russian gas and electricity. Arto Pahkin of the Finnish electricity grid operator Fingrid, went so far as to warn that there would large-scale national disruption and that people could “die”.
Earlier in October, the European Commission approved a 10Bln euro ($9.8Bln) state aid package for Finnish electricity producers.
Having lost access to Russian pipeline gas since its refusal to pay in rubles, Finland is now being forced to generate power and heat using methods it has long been averse to, including coal and wood burning, which these days are frowned on as unsustainable. Barely last year, energy company Helen owned by the City of Helsinki, said it was shutting down its coal-fired power plant in 2023, two years earlier than originally planned.
Because of explosive demand since late summer, the price of firewood has doubled across Finland, prompting massive delays in deliveries and even shutdowns of online stores unable to keep up with the market requirements.
The need of having to go into reverse, in turn, casts doubt over Finland’s environmental commitments. Earlier, Finland pledged to become carbon-neutral by 2035. A law completely banning the use of coal for energy generation in Finland is slated to come into force in 2029.
The Nordic country is not alone in returning to coal-fired power plants, despite the environmental impact. France, Germany and Poland are among nations that are reviving previously mothballed coal power plants. This, in turn, revs up demand and drives import prices to exorbitant levels, even though coal was supposed to be the cheaper alternative to gas.