Fingrid, Finland’s electricity company and Russia's grid companies signed agreements to enable reciprocal trading of electricity between Finland and Russia, on Friday.
Cross-country transit of electricity was possible only from Russia to Finland until this agreement, but now electricity can be transmitted in the other direction from Finland to Russia, according to Fingrid’s announcement.
The agreements were signed by the CEO of Fingrid, Jukka Ruusunen and CEO Andrei Murov of Russian Federal Grid Company of Unified Energy System, FGC UES.
'Export of electricity to Russia will be profitable when the price is lower in Finland than in Russia. Such a situation can emerge, for example in the summer, when a lot of hydropower is available in the Nordic region and consumption in Finland remains at a low level,' said Ruusunen.
Ruusunen noted that when all technical issues have been resolved, two-way trading can start in December, 2014.
Finland imported a lot of electricity from Russia in the past few years and electricity from Russia to Finland has significantly decreased in previous years. Finland generates 67.69 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity and consumes 81 billion kilowatt-hours. The shortfall in electricity between generation and consumption is met through imports from Sweden, Russia and Estonia.
Additionally, Finland is constructing new huge power lines with the Baltic countries to allow both the Baltic and Nordic countries to meet their electricity needs through these connections.
By Murat Temizer
Anadolu Agency