Working group for reforming the Electricity Market Act to facilitate network connections for electricity generators and industrial investments

The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment has appointed a working group to prepare a proposal for reforming the Electricity Market Act to integrate the increasing electricity production and the growing load demands into the transmission network and the high-voltage distribution networks. The working group should submit its proposal to the Ministry by 29 November 2024.

According to its Programme, Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s Government will improve functioning and adequacy of the electricity transmission network as the basis for the energy transition and as a key competitive advantage. 

The smooth integration of the strongly increasing electricity consumption and production into the power grids requires a partial review covering the responsibilities related to connecting to the transmission network and the high-voltage distribution networks, the development obligation of the grid operators and the regulation on power grid licencing. 

In addition, the growth of electricity production and the market entry of renewable hydrogen create a need to facilitate the construction of direct lines and the formation of hybrid connections for production, consumption and storage and of connections for restricted load. 

Promoting wind power production in Finland’s exclusive economic zone and territorial waters also requires that electricity market regulation takes offshore wind power into consideration where necessary. 

The task of the working group is to review regulation at least in the following aspects:

• reforming the interface between the transmission network and the high-voltage distribution network to allow power grid licences of high-voltage distribution networks with a voltage of more than 100-kilovolt;
• specifying the development responsibilities of customers asking for a network connection and network operators;
• connecting onshore wind power, offshore wind power and solar power and the growing loads to the high-voltage grid (including sites for production, consumption and storage and connections for restricted load;
• introducing regulation on direct lines to improve the conditions for the production of renewable hydrogen;
• developing licencing for power grid operation and regulation of project licences for power lines to support the implementation of the solutions proposed above;
• transferring the decision-making powers concerning project licences for cross-border power lines and pipelines from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment to the Government. 

The working group is also tasked to examine, and where necessary to propose measures for, an extension of the responsibilities of the transmission system operator Fingrid Oyj to urban construction of transmission networks, needed due to the energy transition.

The working group is chaired by Arto Rajala, Ministerial Counsellor, from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment. Its secretaries are Katariina Särkänne, Senior Specialist, from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment and Fanny Hovi, Legal Adviser, Energy Authority.

Other members of the working group come from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of the Environment, the Energy Authority, the Energy from the Sun coalition, the Finnish Energy, the Chemical Industry Federation of Finland, the Finnish Forest Industries Federation, the Local Power association, the Association of Finnish Municipalities, the  Association of Energy Users in Finland, the Finnish Wind Power Association, the Federation of Finnish Technology Industries and Fingrid Oyj. 

Inquiries: 
Arto Rajala, Ministerial Counsellor, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, tel. +358 295 064 828