With the end of coal-based energy production, Helen’s annual carbon dioxide emissions will decrease by 50 per cent compared to 2024 and, for the City of Helsinki, will also fall by approximately 30 per cent.
Finland's total emissions will thus decrease by nearly 2 per cent.
The closure of the coal-fired Salmisaari power plant represents a significant milestone for Helen’s emission reduction targets, as the company’s emissions are now estimated to be less than 20 per cent of the 1990 level.
Helen’s CEO Olli Sirkka said:
- giving up coal is a concrete step towards Helen’s clean, self-sufficient and affordable energy production.
Helen has already made all of the significant investment decisions to achieve this, and the related production plants are under construction.
Cleaner production enables lower prices
At this stage, the company’s investments have already made the company’s production not only cleaner, but also more self-sufficient and cost-efficient, which has meant more competitive services for customers.
Since May 2024, Helen has reduced its customer prices for district heating twice.
Olli Sirkka said:
- we have been able to improve our competitiveness by investing in the flexibility of the energy system in line with our strategy and shifting our production to clean solutions;
- this way, we can operate more profitably with lower customer prices;
- our success is an excellent indication that, at best, the clean transition, cost efficiency and Finland’s security of supply can go hand in hand.
Giving up coal will colour the sky in Helsinki on 1 April
The closure of the coal-fired Salmisaari power plant is a significant step towards not only cleaner, but also more self-sufficient energy production as coal ships disappear from the ports of Helsinki.
The scale of this achievement is illustrated by the fact that coal still accounted for 64 per cent of Helen’s district heating production in 2022.
Olli Sirkka said:
- Helen giving up coal and, at the same time, foreign imported energy with regard to it, will remain a significant part of our country’s industrial history and shows that Finnish energy expertise enables actions that initially seemed impossible;
- in fact, I would first and foremost like to thank Helen’s employees, but also all of our partners and the entire Finnish energy sector for this enormous achievement. We have done this together.
Finland will retain reserve coal capacity for security of supply purposes, which can be deployed if necessary.
In addition, some energy companies use small amounts of coal in their energy production for peak, reserve and security of supply reasons.
According to Finnish legislation, it is not possible to use coal in energy production after 1 May 2029.
