The island of Olkiluoto, located off the west coast of Finland, used to be just an energy hub for the country, which borders Russia. But with the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, it became strategically important as Helsinki decided it could no longer rely on Russian energy.
Until then, the country was getting half of its energy imports from the neighboring country, with which it shares a 1,300-kilometre (807 mi) border. These included electricity, oil and natural gas distribution.
“Before 2022, there “There was this optimistic hope that we have moved beyond the era where everything is about expanding territory and invading sovereign countries and we can live happily ever after in peace with trade,” says Sari Multala, Finland’s climate and environment minister.
“But then, we understood that it is not so and we have to take care of our sovereignty, also when it comes to energy. We cannot depend on a hostile partner,” he told DW.
Helsinki abandoned its former neutral stance and announced that it would join the Western defense alliance NATO. Moscow cut off electricity supplies to Finland, supposedly because Helsinki refused to pay for them in the Russian currency, rubles.
Russia’s share in Finland’s energy imports has dropped to almost zero.
Oil, which accounted for 19% of Finland’s energy consumption in 2019, is now being imported from Norway, the UK and the US. Natural gas, which represented 5% of the country’s energy mix at the time, is imported in liquefied LNG form.
Meanwhile, Finland’s state-owned company GasGrid Finland has commissioned a new floating LNG terminal in the southern port of Inga.
Nuclear energy and renewable energy are prominent
Finland’s new nuclear reactor, Olkiluoto 3, is one of the largest reactors in the world with a total capacity of 1,600 megawatts (MW), and will increase Finland’s nuclear share in electricity generation from 28% in 2022 to 39% now.
But there was a price to be paid. The value of Olkiluoto 3 nearly quadrupled to €11 billion ($12.7 billion). It took 18 years to build instead of four as initially planned. Skyrocketing costs forced operator TVO to cancel plans for a fourth reactor on the island of Olkiluoto.
“Consumers are benefiting from low electricity prices. And we have created 5,000 direct and indirect jobs,” he told DW during a recent press tour of the reactor complex.
But other electricity sources also contributed to Finland’s energy transition, especially renewables.
In 2024, onshore wind farms will account for 24% of the country’s electricity production, compared to 14% in 2022.
To Professor Veli-Pekka Tynkäinen at the Finnish Center for Russian and East European Studies University of HelsinkiRenewable energy is the way to go as nuclear, biomass, hydropower and wind power will make the Finnish model “flexible”.
“But it is very expensive to build new nuclear power plants nowadays because of the high safety standards. And we should move away from fossil energy. It is not a good idea to depend on autocratic countries.” , “Whether it’s Russia, Saudi Arabia or the United States,” he told DW.
However, Tynkkinen said that Finland has not managed to achieve complete energy independence from Russia. “The Finnish energy company Fortum has been trying to replace Russian uranium deliveries for the past three years, but has not been able to do so yet,” he said.
Other European countries have also made changes
Thijs van de Graaf, associate professor of international politics at Ghent University in Belgium and an expert on energy policy, agrees that getting the right mix is important.
“After the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, most European countries have turned to other energy sources,” he told DW. “The prescription for energy security includes energy efficiency, electrification and renewable energy.”
He said this is especially the case in countries where there is not as much political appetite for nuclear as in Finland.
According to a May 2025 survey by UK polling institute Varian, 68% of Finns have a positive opinion about nuclear energy, which is why operator TVO would not rule out building additional nuclear reactors.
Pasi Tuohimaa is communications manager at Posiva, a company owned by TVO and Fortum and expert in the final disposal of spent nuclear fuel at the Onkalo storage facility located at the power plant site.
Posiva plays an important role in ensuring the safety of nuclear waste management in Finland.
On a recent afternoon, Tuohimaa was leading a group of journalists through the Onkalo project that is scheduled to open in the coming months.
Waste from the country’s five existing nuclear power plants will be stored forever in one-tonne capsules that will be stored in chambers underground.
Operator Posiva has so far spent between €500 million ($577 million) and €1 billion on the storage facility consisting of 60 kilometers (37.2 mi) of tunnels about 450 meters (1,476 ft) below ground level.
“We have a solution for the safe care of spent nuclear fuel. Digging tunnels is not that difficult. Finland is full of rock. So there may be other places here and abroad,” Tuohimaa told DW.
Finland’s Minister of Climate and Environment Saari Multala says the Nordic country is currently “paving the way for more nuclear power.”
Speaking to journalists on a tour of the Posiva site, he said the government is currently “reviewing our nuclear energy legislation to facilitate faster permitting processes and examining whether nuclear [power] Some financial support or risk-sharing mechanism will be required in the future.”
Could wind power be an immediate solution?
But Anne Mikkonen, CEO of industry association Renewables Finland, objects to the current government’s pro-nuclear policy, arguing that wind farms could be completed too quickly.
“There’s a really strong project pipeline that you can start building when you need power. We can double onshore capacity within ten years,” he told DW.
He also said that “additional [Finish] The electricity could be used to power electric cars or exported to other countries” so that these could become more independent from Russian energy imports.
Edited by: Uwe Hessler