The statistics have it – in Finland, nuclear power meets 37.6% of our electricity needs
Olkiluoto is Finland’s most significant producer of electricity, and Finland is very much a nuclear power nation. These are the conclusions to draw from Olkiluoto’s press release regarding last year’s production, which came out last week, as well as from Finnish Energy’s annual summary that was released 15. January.
Olkiluoto is by far Finland’s most significant producer of electricity. All in all, 28 per cent of all electricity consumed in Finland last year was generated here.
In terms of terawatt hours, this amounted to 23.26 – which is quite a lot, since in 1970, not much more than 50 years ago, this would have covered all of Finland’s electricity needs.
Besides Teollisuuden Voima Oyj, which operates at Olkiluoto, nuclear power is also used at the Loviisa nuclear power plant by Fortum. There are three plant units generating electricity at Olkiluoto and two in Loviisa.
Combined, the two companies produced a total of 31.16 TWh. In terms of percentages, 37,6 % of all electricity consumed in Finland last year came from nuclear power plants.
This percentage is high even on a global scale, clearly making Finland one of the strongest nuclear power nations in the world. However, we are not quite up to the standards of France, where nuclear power has set the pace since the 1970s. Last year, split atoms accounted for more than 60% of all energy consumed in France.
When examining Finland's electricity production shares, nuclear power is clearly the largest, with a 39 % share. The second largest was wind power at 25%, followed by hydropower in third place with 18 %.
Finland's electricity production is already largely fossil-free. Last year, 95% of Finland's electricity came from clean energy sources.
Read more:
TVO´s Press Release, January 3, 2025
Text: Ville Kulmala
Photo: Tapani Karjanlahti