Towards a Baltic Sea Region Strategy in Critical ... - Helsinki.fi

CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE PROTECTION IN THE BALTIC SEA REGION
problems in the cold winter time. This clearly increases the vulnerability of
society.
According to a study made by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland
(Tuomaala 2002), the room temperature of a normal house will decrease from
22 o C to 15 o C in six hours if the heating system fails and the outdoor temperature is
-26 o C. In 48 hours, the temperature will drop from 22 o C to 0 o C. The corresponding
temperatures for an energy saving house are 18 o C and 10 o C, respectively. This
gives a time frame for the measures to be taken: bring back electricity and heating,
arrange for generators and heaters – or evacuate.
Electricity consumption 40
In Finland, the consumption of energy and electricity per capita is one of the
highest in the world. In the north, winters are cold and dark, and therefore a lot of
energy is needed for heating and lighting. Also, the industry in Finland is very
energy intensive.
Table II—1 Electricity consumption in Finland and Europe. (Nordel 2004)
Consumption per capita and consumption in Europe Year 2004
Country
Consumption per capita (kWh)
Consumption
(TWh)
Iceland 29400 8,6
Norway 26300 120,1
Finland 16600 86,8
Sweden 16500 146,2
France (2003) 7900 468,2
Denmark 6700 35,7
Germany 6700 554,3
Great Britain 6600 390
In the year 2006, industry and construction used a good 53% of the electricity,
households and farms 25 %, and services and public consumption a total of 19 %.
A good 3% of electricity was lost during transmission and distribution year 2006.
Electric heating across all customer groups accounts for about 10% of the
electricity consumption.
Industrial energy demand grew by more than 9.5% in 2006. Electricity
consumption of households and agricultural clients grew by 2.3%. Services and
public consumption required 3.1% more electricity than the year before.
The variation between seasons is also large. In winter, the consumption of
electricity is more than 40% greater than in summer. On the 20 th of January 2006,
the peak power of total electricity consumption reached an all-time high - 14,860
megawatts. Russia cut electricity export to Finland by several hundreds of
megawatts during the most severe frosts and Sweden did the same a little later.
However, the demand for electricity in Finland was met.
40 This section as a whole is based on the information from the Finnish Energy Industries (2007).
60 NORDREGIO REPORT 2007:5