Russia's Inter RAO to suspend power exports to Finland May 14: Fingrid

Russian exports of electricity to Finland are to be suspended from May 14, Finland's transmission system operator Fingrid said May 13.

The day-ahead power in Finland settled at Eur109.80/MWh for delivery May 14 compared to a Nordic system price of Eur44.60/MWh, Nord Pool data showed.

"RAO Nordic Oy, a Russian subsidiary of Inter RAO, which trades in electricity on 400 kV connections, will suspend the import of electricity to Finland on Saturday, May 14, 2022 at 1:00 am," Fingrid said.

"Due to problems in receiving payments for electricity sold on the market, further direct or bilateral sales of electricity imported from Russia will be halted until further notice," RAO Nordic said in a market message on the Nord Pool website.

Hourly traded volumes had varied between zero and 970 MWh, RAO Nordic said.

Adequacy of power supply in Finland was not threatened by the sudden suspension, Fingrid said.

"Missing imports can be replaced in the electricity market by importing more electricity from Sweden and partly also by domestic production," said Fingrid's Senior Vice President, Operations, Reima Päivinen.

Finland imported 9.2 TWh of electricity from Russia in 2021, roughly 10% of annual demand.

Finland's self-sufficiency in electricity production was growing due to rising wind generation, the TSO said.

"This year alone, 2,000 megawatts of new wind power is expected to meet demand," it said.

The 1.6 GW Olkiluoto-3 nuclear reactor has been ramping up ahead of commercial operation in July.

Once full production has started, OL3 will meet about 14% of Finland's annual electricity consumption, reducing the need for electricity imports by over half, according to operator TVO.

In April, Fingrid restricted import capacity on Finland's cross-border transmission links to Russia to a maximum 900 MW from 1,300 MW in order to safeguard the system from a sudden, large-scale outage.