Finland to end coal use in energy production in spring

The use of coal in Finnish energy production will end this spring as energy companies Helen and Vantaan Energia will close their last remaining power plant units using coal, said the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment on Tuesday.

The energy use of coal will thus end four years before the deadline of May 2029 required by law. In this way, Finland is taking another major step towards an energy system that is cleaner, more self-sufficient and climate neutral.

“With coal no longer in use, this imported fossil energy will be replaced with cleaner solutions that reduce climate emissions, while consumers benefit from lower energy prices,” said Minister of Climate and the Environment Sari Multala at an event celebrating the closure of Helen’s last coal-fired power plant on Tuesday.

In 2019, Parliament unanimously passed the law to ban the use of coal for energy within ten years.

“At that time, the target seemed challenging, but now that it has been met four years ahead of schedule, passing the law appears very far-sighted,” Multala added.

Coal played a key role in Finland’s electricity and heat production for a long time.

Ending the use of coal has been the result of a determined energy policy extending beyond government terms. Already in the 2010s, Finland chose phasing out the use of coal in electricity and heat production as the first means of reducing fossil emissions.

The Act on Prohibiting the Use of Coal as an Energy Source, which was passed in 2019, gave a strong signal of the direction of society. The decision was the first of its kind in the world.

The closures of Helen’s plant in Salmisaari and Vantaan Energia’s unit in Martinlaakso are part of a broader energy transition, in which fossil production is replaced by renewable and low-carbon solutions.

Moving forward, the companies will produce heat with electric boilers, heat pumps, energy storage, bioenergy and recovery of waste, among other things. The main focus of electricity production will be on wind, nuclear, hydro and solar power.