Finland already gets an impressive 89% of its electricity from low-carbon sources. Over the latest 12 months, from October 2025 through September 2026, nuclear supplied about 37% of electricity consumption, wind almost a quarter, hydropower 14%, biofuels 11%, and solar roughly 1.5%. Fossil fuels supplied only about 4%, including roughly 1.6% from gas and 1.5% from coal, while net imports accounted for nearly 7%. With electricity already overwhelmingly clean, Finland’s next challenge is to electrify transport, heating and industry—a transition that will require much more electricity.

Is Electricity Growing in Finland?

Finland’s electricity picture shows encouraging clean generation growth, but consumption remains below its historical peak. The latest 2026 electricity consumption figure is about 15,700 kWh per person, around 2,100 kWh—or 12%—below the record of approximately 17,800 kWh in 2006. Low-carbon electricity generation, however, has reached a new record of nearly 14,000 kWh per person, exceeding the previous record set in 2025 by about 480 kWh, or 3.6%. That clean electricity growth is worth celebrating, although the gap below peak consumption highlights the scale of expansion needed to support widespread electrification and growing demand from AI.

Suggestions

Finland can build on its strengths by expanding nuclear and wind generation, which already provide more than 60% of its electricity together. Increasing output from existing nuclear facilities where feasible, extending their productive operation and building additional nuclear capacity would strengthen its supply of dependable low-carbon electricity. Further wind development can deliver substantial additional clean generation, while expanding solar would diversify the electricity mix. Investment in grids, storage and flexible electricity use would help bring this growing clean supply to households, transport and industry.

History

Finland’s low-carbon electricity history features several major advances. In 1981, nuclear generation increased by 7.4 TWh and hydropower by 4 TWh. Biofuel generation rose by 5.2 TWh in 1990, while hydropower added 2.3 TWh in 1991 and 2.8 TWh in 1998. Hydropower fluctuated through the 2000s and 2010s: notable gains included 5.5 TWh in 2004 and 4.4 TWh in 2012, alongside declines of 4.4 TWh in 2009 and 4 TWh in 2013. It subsequently gained 3.4 TWh in 2015 and 3.2 TWh in 2020, when biofuel generation fell by 2.7 TWh. More recently, wind increased by 3.6 TWh in 2022, followed in 2023 by an outstanding 8.5 TWh increase in nuclear and another 2.9 TWh from wind. Wind then added a further 5.4 TWh in 2024, demonstrating the substantial contributions that expanding nuclear and wind can make to Finland’s clean electricity supply.

Electricity Imports and Exports

Balance of Trade

* 12M = Last 12 months (Oct 2025 – Sep 2026) — a rolling 12-month period, not a calendar year.