Latest Finland reactor delay raises winter power supply concerns

INTER RAO Lietuva AB

16/06/2022 14:52

OSLO, June 16 (Reuters) - Another two-month delay at
Finland's Olkiluoto 3 nuclear reactor, which was originally due
to start operations in 2009, poses a risk to power supply this
winter in the absence of Russian imports, grid operator Fingrid
said on Thursday.
    Test operations, suspended in April, will not restart until
the end of July, operator Teollisuuden Voima (TVO)  POHVOT.UL 
said late on Wednesday.
    Regular power production at the new 1.6 gigawatt (GW)
reactor, which will account for some 15% of Finland's
electricity consumption when fully operational, will now start
on Dec. 10 instead of Sept. 30 as previously announced. 
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    "We were expecting this generation would even start this
summer and now it's delay after delay, so of course the risk
level has increased," Jukka Ruusunen, the head of power grid
operator Fingrid, told Reuters.
    Fingrid had been expecting that Olkiluoto 3 alone would more
than compensate for the loss of Russian power imports this
winter, he added.
    Imports of Russian power stopped in May after Russian
utility Inter RAO said it had not been paid for the power it
sold via pan European exchange Nord Pool since May 6.
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    "Without Olkiluoto 3 the situation is quite tight because
that would have been more than 10% of the peak demand alone,"
Ruusunen said. 
    Instead, Fingrid will need to lean more on imports from
other Nordic countries, the growing domestic wind power fleet
and a strategic reserve to meet peak demand in January and
February, he added.
    A last resort would be power rationing, Ruusunen said.
    A tighter supply picture this winter would primarily lead to
a price impact, with power becoming more expensive, said Marius
Holm Rennesund at Oslo-based Thema Consulting. 
    "But I don't think there is any risk of rationing," he said.
    Tor Reier Lilleholt, head of analysis at the Volue Insight
energy data and research firm, said: "It is when it gets very
cold and there is little wind you would have a challenge."
    The reason for the fresh delay at Olkiluoto 3 were checks
and repairs after the discovery of "foreign material" in the
turbine's steam reheater, TVO said on Wednesday, without giving
specifics on what the foreign material was.
    Under construction since 2005, Olkiluoto 3 has faced several
technical issues, sparking a legal battle between TVO and its
partners, France's Areva  ARVCF.PK  and Germany's Siemens
 SIEGn.DE .

 (Reporting by Nora Buli;
Editing by Alison Williams)
 ((Nora.Buli@thomsonreuters.com; (+47) 21 04 05 56; Reuters
Messaging: nora.buli.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))