Thursday 7 February 2019

EU backs Finnish power grid upgrade with €100m loan

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has agreed a loan totalling €100 million (£88m) for the upgrade of the national electricity transmission grid in Finland.

It has signed an agreement with Fingrid for the project, which will add a new line to the north-south interconnector and enable new wind energy – planned to be built in the north of the country - to reach load centres in the south.

The national transmission grid operator will refurbish power lines and substations with “more efficient and modernised” equipment.

Its investment programme also includes the implementation of a centralised information exchange system, or data hub, for the electricity retail market.

The hub will collect and maintain data from 3.5 million electricity metering points in Finland, which can be used by around 100 power suppliers and more than 80 distribution network companies.

Jukka Ruusunen, President and CEO of Fingrid said: “These investments enable the transformation of the electricity system to accommodate increasing amounts of renewable energy and facilitate electricity market information exchange by bringing consumers to the centre of the electricity markets.”