Finland may abandon imports of Russian electricity by 2035 in its aspiration to achieve carbon neutrality and even start to export it to Russia, according to a forecast by the Finnish national electricity transmission grid operator, Fingrid. Fingrid published four scenarios for the development of the Finnish energy system until 2035. The country is slated to achieve carbon neutrality by this time. Three scenarios imply a significant increase in the commissioning of wind power plants or solar power plants in the country and the termination of electricity imports, while the fourth scenario includes a transition to electricity exports.
"The Climate-Neutral Growth scenario also assumed that the current, very significant impact of the capacity payments on the Russian side on cross-border trade would be eliminated. Similarly, in the Windy Seas and Solar and Batteries scenarios, it was assumed that no electricity would be transmitted between Finland and Russia," the company said. In the "Power to Export" scenario, Finland could start exporting electricity to Russia, Fingrid notes. According to the Russian energy holding company Inter RAO, the volume of electricity exports to Finland in 2019 amounted to 7 billion kWh, while in the nine months of 2020, the volume of electricity exports totaled only 1.8 billion kWh.