Minister of Climate and the Environment Kai Mykkänen (NCP) attended a meeting of the Espoo City Council on 21 October 2024. Mykkänen has taken many, including lawmakers from other ruling parties, by surprise by proposing a price corridor for new nuclear power, a proposal that aligns with lobbing by the majority state-owned power producer Fortum. (Jussi Nukari – Lehtikuva)
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MINISTER of Climate and the Environment Kai Mykkänen (NCP) expressed his support for a new support mechanism for nuclear power at a press briefing held ostensibly to provide an update on energy-related projects laid out in the government programme, writes Helsingin Sanomat.
Mykkänen instead argued that the government should both guarantee the loans required to construct nuclear power plants and introduce a price corridor for nuclear power.
The corridor would introduce additional fees for electricity consumers at times when market prices dip below a certain threshold, as well as obligate the producer to pay compensation to consumers when market prices exceed a certain threshold. As it would simply transfer funds between consumers and producers, it would create no additional costs for the central administration.
Helsingin Sanomat wrote on 18 January that while it is not unusual for the nature of a briefing to change abruptly, the briefing left reporters asking whether the proposals reflected the views of the entire government or only the minister, who is stepping down to assume the duties of the mayor of Espoo in February.
The timing of the proposals was also curious in light of reporting about lobbying by Fortum. STT on 13 January reported that the majority state-owned energy company has lobbied for a price corridor for nuclear power to the permanent secretaries of the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.
Representing Fortum in the meeting were CEO Markus Rauramo, head of corporate customers and markets Simon-Erik Ollus, and head of the chief executive’s office Esa Hyvärinen.
After Mykkänen floated the idea of a price corridor for new nuclear power on 14 January, Helsingin Sanomat received messages that called attention to his long-standing friendship with Ollus. It raised questions, the newspaper wrote, about why the minister was echoing an idea of the state-owned energy producer particularly given that the rest of the energy industry seems opposed to supporting nuclear energy generation.
Mykkänen confirmed the friendship but added that the idea was not pitched to him by Ollus.
“These measures were my own thoughts. As I noted, guarantees for the financing period and limiting cash-flow risks with some kind of a price corridor would be necessary if we were serious about satisfying the energy needs created by the green transition,” he argued to Helsingin Sanomat on Saturday.
Jukka Leskelä, the managing director of Finnish Energy, told Helsingin Sanomat on 15 January that the interest group has reservations about supporting a “mature” form of energy by steering prices.
“The subsidy could be relatively long-lasting and unpredictable in terms of its costs,” he remarked.
He acknowledged that it is difficult to build nuclear power capacity without any government support in the current circumstances, given the volatility associated with electricity rices, nuclear power projects and long construction projects.
“If you wanted to politically promote nuclear power build-up, it should be done by making it easier to secure financing for the construction period,” said Leskelä.
Anders Adlercreutz, the chairperson of the Swedish People’s Party, welcomed Mykkänen’s musings as an opportunity to discuss the issue but added that they do not align with the views of the ruling coalition.
“I’m not rejecting it, but we have to be cautious about new support mechanisms,” he said to Helsingin Sanomat on 16 January.
Although he recognised the need for a steady
Source: www.helsinkitimes.fi
