Finland already gets just over 90% of its electricity from low-carbon sources—an impressive achievement. Over the last 12 months, from September 2025 to August 2026, nuclear supplied about 38% of electricity, wind a quarter, hydropower 14%, biofuels 12%, and solar roughly 1.5%. Fossil sources accounted for only about 4%, including gas and coal at around 1.5–2% each, while net imports supplied approximately 5%. The next challenge is to electrify transport, heating, and industry, which will require much more clean electricity and help reduce fossil-fuel use, climate emissions, and air pollution.

Is Electricity Growing in Finland?

Finland’s electricity picture shows encouraging growth in low-carbon generation, but total consumption remains below its historical peak. The latest 2026 electricity consumption figure is about 15,500 kWh per person, roughly 2,300 kWh—or 13%—below the record of approximately 17,800 kWh in 2006. This comparison does not establish whether consumption grew in the latest year, but it highlights the distance from the historical peak. Meanwhile, low-carbon electricity generation reached a new record of about 14,000 kWh per person, surpassing the 2025 record by almost 500 kWh, or roughly 4%. That clean-electricity growth is worth celebrating, and further expansion is needed to support electrification and growing demand from AI.

Suggestions

Finland can build on its strengths by expanding nuclear and wind electricity generation, which already provide almost two-thirds of its electricity together. Increasing output from existing nuclear plants where feasible and adding new nuclear capacity would strengthen its supply of clean electricity. Further wind development, alongside stronger electricity networks and storage, would also help meet rising demand. Solar deserves expansion as a complementary low-carbon source, broadening Finland’s clean-electricity supply. Together, these investments can support more electricity use in transport, heating, and industry while reducing dependence on fossil fuels.

History

Finland’s low-carbon electricity history includes several major advances. In 1981, nuclear generation increased by 7.4 TWh and hydropower by 4 TWh; biofuel generation then rose by 5.2 TWh in 1990. Hydropower added 2.3 TWh in 1991 and 2.8 TWh in 1998. During the 2000s, hydro output fluctuated: gains of 5.5 TWh in 2004 and about 3 TWh each in 2007 and 2008 were interspersed with declines in 2002, 2006, and 2009. Similar variations continued in the 2010s, with a 4.4 TWh increase in 2012, a 4 TWh fall in 2013, and a 3.4 TWh recovery in 2015. In 2020, hydro added 3.2 TWh while biofuel generation fell by 2.7 TWh. The most recent gains show strong momentum: wind added 3.6 TWh in 2022, nuclear and wind added 8.5 TWh and 2.9 TWh respectively in 2023, and wind grew by another 5.4 TWh in 2024.

Electricity Imports and Exports

Balance of Trade

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