2/2012 - Fingrid

Åland Islands producea quarter of theirelectricityThe Åland Islands, an autonomous region of Finland, use approximately 300 gigawatt hours ofelectricity per year, in other words just under one per cent of the total electricity consumptionin Finland. About a quarter of the electricity is produced on the Åland Islands, over two thirdsis imported from Sweden, and the remainder seven per cent from Finland. Kraftnät Åland, thetransmission system operator of Åland, takes care of electricity transmission.Text by Antti Lagus | Photographs by Kraftnät Åland’s archivesThere is a 110 kilovolt submarinecable from the Åland Islands toSenneby in Sweden, from wherethere is a connection to the Swedishhigh-voltage grid through Vattenfall’snetwork. From the submarine cable,electricity is transmitted on an overheadtransmission line to the Tingsbackasubstation, from where Kraftnät Ålandsupplies electricity further along four45 kilovolt branch lines to the eastern,western and northern parts of the ÅlandIslands and to the town of Mariehamn.One 45 kilovolt transmission connectiontraverses the archipelago of Turkuto Kustavi.Of the energy used on Åland, 26 percent is derived from renewable energysources. In addition to 20 wind turbines,energy is produced in a thermal powerplant firing bioenergy.“Our goal on the Åland Islands is toraise the share of renewables of totalenergy to at least 38 per cent, whichis the national objective in Finland.We already have the permits for newwind turbines which would elevate theshare of renewable energy to about 70per cent, but their construction is stillwaiting for subsidy decisions,” says JanKahlroth, CEO of the transmission systemoperator Kraftnät Åland.The demand for energy continues togrow. On Åland, the growth rate hasbeen 1.8 per cent a year in the past tenyears. Jan Kahlroth also thinks that thegrowth in population on Åland will influencethe need for additional energy.Åland now has about 28,000 inhabitants.The portion of wind poweris growing in electricitygeneration on Åland in thecoming years.FINGRID 2/2012 | 28