Energy production
EPV Energy is a multi-skilled producer of energy that focuses on using zero-emission energy sources.
Sustainable energy generation is built together
EPV Energy Ltd (EPV) is a Finnish energy company that generates and procures approximately 5% of all the electricity consumed in Finland.
The current state of our planet requires great changes and the acceleration of driving down emissions. According to our strategy, EPV’s energy production will become completely emission-free by the end of the 2020s. We now have EUR 1,000 million worth of investments in new electricity on our drawing board. In the future, new electricity will be solely generated using the zero-emission energy sources of solar, wind, hydro and nuclear power, which are key to our strategy.
In generating new energy, we will also utilise emission-free streams of raw material, such as forest energy, and circular economy products, such as gasified waste.
By improving our range of energy generation, we have significantly lowered our carbon dioxide emissions over the last ten years. Today, more than 84% of EPV’s energy production is already emission-free.
Currently, EPV Energy’s production portfolio includes:
Nuclear power
We participate in Finland’s most significant energy projects
Nuclear power is produced in EPV Power’s business area by EPV’s affiliated companies Teollisuuden Voima and Pohjolan Voima.
When produced in a responsible way, nuclear power is an environmentally friendly and safe way of producing electricity throughout its lifespan. The lifespan of nuclear power plants is several decades, and they produce completely zero-emission electricity in a similar manner to hydropower and wind power.
For approximately 40 years, Teollisuuden Voima (TVO) has produced nuclear power for EPV Energy from Olkiluoto 1 and 2 nuclear power stations. Additionally, we are involved in the Olkiluoto 3 project. In 2022, nuclear power represented 37% of EPV’s energy generation. Olkiluoto 3 will double EPV’s nuclear power production.
EPV Energy ensures the energy supply of its shareholders by making large joint investments. We participate in Finland’s most significant energy projects and acquire stakes in foreign power plants.
Hydropower
Investing in hydropower in Finland and Sweden
EPV Energy is involved in producing hydropower electricity through the shares it owns in Pohjolan Voima ja Voimapiha. Our affiliated company Pohjolan Voima generates electricity in Finland using hydropower. In addition, EPV Energy has invested in hydropower in our neighbouring country: we own Swedish hydropower through Voimapiha Oy.
Production takes place on an industrial scale, generating balancing power for renewable forms of energy. In 2022, hydroelectric power represented 11% of EPV’s power procurement.
Learn more about our nuclear power activities
Wind power
We are among the leaders in wind power generation
EPV Energy is one of the largest producers of wind power in Finland, having started our wind power programme as early as 2006. Right now, EPV Energy’s sixth wind farm is well on its way to completion in Närpes. Wind power is an important form of energy production for the company. In 2022, approximately 27% of EPV’s energy generation was already coming from wind power.
We are building wind power for ourselves and looking far ahead in our work. We develop, build, invest, operate and manage the electricity balance and balancing power. Our profits also stay in our home country.
EPV Energy’s subsidiary EPV Windpower has built and is planning several more projects in Ostrobothnia and South Ostrobothnia, as well as one in Kuusamo. EPV Energy’s subsidiary Rajakiiri Oy also has a wind farm in Tornio. EPV Energy is a fully domestic company, mainly owned by Finnish energy companies.
EPV Energy is also a major shareholder in Rajakiiri, which is planning and building wind power in Tornio, Pyhäjoki, Raahe and Simo, and in Suomen Merituuli, which designs offshore wind farms.
Learn more about our wind power activities
Solar power
The economic competitiveness of solar power has improved over the last few years, and this trend is expected to continue. In 2020, EPV Energy started planning its first industrial-scale solar power project.
EPV is studying solar energy yield at its own solar power measuring facility
As a pioneer in zero-emission energy generation, EPV is constantly researching renewable energy technologies and energy production on the market. One example of this is the solar energy measuring station in Vuorenneva, Alavus, commissioned in September 2018.
The metering station allows us to investigate and improve the predictability of solar power. The plant’s output naturally coincides with periods of high electricity consumption, and it is designed to balance out peak loads in consumption.
Huge solar power project being planned in South Ostrobothnia
The economic competitiveness of solar power has improved over the last few years, and this trend is expected to continue. In 2020, EPV Energy started planning its first industrial-scale solar power project.
Learn more about our solar power activities
Combined heat and power
EPV Energy produces electricity and heat in its CHP plants in Vaasa, Seinäjoki, Tornio and Raahe. Combined heat and power production keeps efficiency high and carbon dioxide emissions low.
Vaasan Voima Oy produces about 60% of the district heating used in the Vaasa region, and Seinäjoen Voima Oy about 90% of that used in the Seinäjoki region. Tornion Voima Oy produces not only electricity but also district heating for the Tornio region and process heat for the Outokumpu steel factory.
Vaasan Voima Oy was founded by EPV Energy and is a subsidiary wholly owned by it. Currently, Vaasa Voima’s operations comprise a new storage solution for thermal energy developed by EPV Energy. It involves storing heat in old oil storage caverns underneath the Vaskiluodon Voima power plant. This thermal energy storage facility was completed in the summer of 2020 and is one of the largest in Finland. Up to 7,000–9,000 megawatt hours of energy can be stored in the caverns. The system of caverns is 210,000 m3 in size and located 30 metres below ground.
A new electric boiler has been commissioned in Vaskiluoto, Vaasa in 2021 as part of EPV’s production portfolio. The boiler is one component of the clean heat production system of the future. Above all, the electric boiler significantly strengthens the reliability of EPV’s energy system.
Raahen Voima Oy is an associated company founded by SSAB and EPV Energy. Raahen Voima has acquired the power plant business operations of the Ruukki steel factory in Raahe and renovated the power plant. Most of the electricity is produced from the plant’s own process gases.
We invest in Finnish biofuels
By investing in domestic fuels, such as forest energy, we improve employment and the security of the energy supply in our regions. Our goal is to continuously increase the share of domestic bioenergy in the cogeneration of heat and electricity. We have developed a cost-effective chain from the forest to the boiler and we are also investing in innovative and advanced technology.
Learn more about our CHP activities
Energy Management
Optimising energy systems and risk management for the future
EPV Energy’s (EPV) Energy Management Team produces energy management services for EPV shareholders and the energy generation companies owned, entirely or partly, by EPV.
The company’s own Operations Centre focuses on energy management and enables the development of activities and the production of cost-efficient services. The amenities directed at EPV shareholders include various services concerning the shareholders’ management of the wholesale power balance and the purchasing and selling of electricity in the Nordic power exchange.
Thanks to the Operations Centre, we can control practically any energy production plant system, while at the same time combining production facilities, which is sector coupling at its best.
Another major task of the Operations Centre is the planning and direction of EPV production companies’ production and, consequently, production optimisation in the wholesale electricity market, as well as the minimisation of costs in the imbalance power market.
