Russian power exports to Finland fall to zero

INTER RAO Lietuva AB

16/05/2022 10:10

HELSINKI, May 16 (Reuters) - Russian exports of power to
Finland were down to zero early on Monday, flow data showed,
after Russian utility firm Inter RAO  IRAO.MM  said last week it
would halt them because it had not been paid.
    Inter RAO said on Friday it would stop exporting electricity
to Finland from Saturday 1 a.m. local time (2200 GMT on Friday)
"for the time being" as it had not been paid for power sold via
pan-European exchange Nord Pool since May 6.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N2X54YV    
    Flows of Russian power to Finland on Monday were down to
nil, data from grid operator Fingrid showed. They fell from 87
megawatts to zero early on Saturday.
    Finnish grid operator Fingrid, which has said it can replace
Russian supplies with Swedish power and by boosting domestic
production, said on Saturday the suspension of Russian
transmission was due to restrictions on payments imposed by
Western nations.
    "Due to these restrictions payments for sold Russian
electricity can no longer be made. The suspension is therefore
rather a consequence than a Russian countermeasure," Fingrid
said.
    Fingrid, which said Russia accounted for some 10% of
Finland's total consumption, said last month it had prepared for
the prospect of Russia cutting electricity flows to Finland by
restricting the transmission capacity by a third.

 (Reporting by Gwladys Fouche and Nora Buli; Editing by Edmund
Blair)
 ((gwladys.fouche@tr.com; +47 21 04 05 53; Reuters Messaging:
Twitter handle: @gfouche))