Increase in the import of the electric power

Exceptionally large amounts of electric power were imported in Finland from Sweden during the spring and early summer. The reason for this was the good conditions for production of hydroelectric power. Because of the imports it has been possible to reduce the generation of the expensive domestic condensing power. The consumption of electric power increased, compared to May 1998, by 1.7%. The private consumption of electric power was 7-8% due to the lower average temperature of the year 1999. May 1999 has been about two deg C lower than the long-term average. About 6.1 TWh of power was consumed in Finland in May 1999, while the consumption in May 1998 was about 100 GWh lower. The power consumption of the past 12 months was 76.9 TWh, which is about 2.1% higher than the value of the previous 12 months. The long lasting increase in production of hydroelectric power started to cease. The hydroelectric power generated in May-June 1999 exceeded 1.2 TWh, the reduction, compared to the previous year, was only a little over 5%. The production of hydroelectric power during the past 12 months was 15.4 TWh. This corresponds to 20% of the total power demand in Finland. The corresponding value of the previous year was nearly 22%. The generation of wind power in May-June 1999 was about 5 GWh, the amount of the previous 12 months being 29 GWh. Both of these values are about twice higher than the figures of the 12 months before that. The power generation capacity of Finnish nuclear power plants in May-June 1999 less than 3.4 TWh, which are about 15% higher than the value of the previous year. The share of nuclear power during May-June 1999 of the total amount of power consumption was 30%. The amount of nuclear power generated during the first half of the year in Finland was more than 11 TWh. The nuclear power generation capacity of the previous 12 months was 21.8 TWh. Cogeneration of power and heat has been nearly the same both in 1998 and 1999, the growth being only 1.4%. The amount of this was 1.9 TWh in May 1999. The figures of the previous 12 months were 25 TWh, which are about 2.7% higher than the 12 months before this. The amount of condensing power generated in Finland in May 1999 was about 500 GWh, which is 52% lower than year before. The production in June 1999 was only 140 GWh. The condensing power generation during the first half of the year was only 2.3 TWh, while in 1998 the corresponding amount was more than 4.3 TWh. The amounts of the previous 12 months were 4.7 TWh in May and 4.5 TWh in June. The import of electric power from Russia has remained almost the same as in 1998, but the import from Sweden has nearly doubled. In May-June 1999 the import of electric power was about 2 TWh, the share of the import from Sweden being more than 1.3 TWh