Fingrid says it had to use two back-up power plants to keep blackouts from happening.
The company in charge of Finland’s power grid, Fingrid, says that electricity prices have hit all-time highs.
“The price of adjustment electricity is currently very high, at about €5,000 per megawatt-hour,” Fingrid said in a statement on Thursday, adding that it has asked providers for more short-term power.
The operator also said that it had to turn on two backup power plants, Huutokoski and Forssa, early on Thursday to “balance the electricity system” and prevent blackouts.
When “the situation was brought under control,” they were shut down.
Fingrid told Reuters that blackouts could happen again because of maintenance at Finland’s new Olkiluoto 3 (OL3) nuclear power plant and a drop in wind power production.
The grid operator has high hopes for the new reactor. Earlier this year, they said that it has the power to make up for the loss of power from Russia. But in June, it said that heating season supplies could be in danger if OL3 didn’t work out as planned.
In May, Russia stopped sending electricity to Finland because Russian utility Inter RAO hadn’t been paid for electricity it sold through the pan-European exchange Nord Pool.
