Monday 3 June 2013

Future looks uncertain for Finnish coal plant

The future looks uncertain for a Finnish coal plant after its owner said it is considering partially or fully closing it among a number of options.

The news suggests a difficult time for generators in Europe hit by changing power prices and EU pollution laws.

The Inkoo power plant on the south coast of Finland has already closed one of its four units and now Fortum wants to assess its “future alternatives”, starting negotiations including talks with its 90 employees in two weeks.

In a statement, Fortum blamed the power plant’s “weak” profitability, falling demand for coal condensing power in the Nordic electricity market “as a result of the economic recession” and the drop in the wholesale price for electricity. It also said the EU Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) will “further burden” the Inkoo power plant’s profitability.

Matti Ruotsala, Executive Vice President for Fortum’s Power Division said: “The profitability of our Inkoo power plant has remained poor. The electricity market has developed in such a way that it will most likely not be possible to profitably operate a 1970s-era condensing power plant like Inkoo in the future.”