Iran Energy News Oil, Gas, Petrochemical and Energy Field Specialized Channel
Related Articles
RAO Nordic, a subsidiary of Russian state energy holding Inter RAO, has suspended its electricity supply to Finnish electricity grid operator Fingrid, citing payment concerns.
The company has been importing electricity from Russia to Finland and selling it on the Nord Pool exchange for several years.
It stopped supplying power to the country on 14 May.
In a statement, RAO Nordic said: “Unfortunately, we are forced to note that for the volumes that have been sold on Nord Pool exchange since 6 May, funds have not yet been credited to our bank account.
“This situation is exceptional and happened for the first time in over 20 years of our trading history.
“Unfortunately, in the current situation of lack of cash income, RAO Nordic is not able to make payments for the imported electricity from Russia.
“Therefore, we are forced to suspend the electricity import starting from 14 May.
“We hope that the situation will be improved soon and the electricity trade with Russia could resume.”
Last week, Russia threatened to take ‘retaliatory steps’ after Finland announced plans to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), the BBC reported.
RAO Nordic’s decision to suspend its power supply to Finland is not understood to be directly linked to the country’s decision to join NATO.
In a statement, Fingrid said there is no threat to the sufficiency of electricity in the country.
Fingrid power system operations senior vice-president Reima Päivinen said: “The lack of electricity import from Russia will be compensated by importing more electricity from Sweden and by generating more electricity in Finland.”
Last month, Fingrid reduced its electricity imports from Russia in an effort to secure Finland’s power system following an assessment of the risks to the power system.
The company trades electricity with RAO Nordic over 400kV interconnectors.
