The growth of nuclear, wind, and hydro power accelerated the transition towards a cleaner energy system in 2023

Key changes for 2023

The transition towards a cleaner energy system took a leap forward in 2023, with continued investment in wind power generation, a marked increase in solar power production and the first full year of operation of the Olkiluoto 3 nuclear power plant, which contributed to reducing demand for fossil fuels and peat, as well as emissions. Hydropower production also increased last year compared to the previous year. Non-combustion based generation covered as much as 79 % of total electricity consumption in 2023, compared to 61 % in 2022.

In 2023, nuclear, hydro, wind and solar power produced 13 terawatt hours (TWh = 1000 gigawatt hours, GWh) more electricity than in the previous year, which contributed to a 22 % decrease in combustion-based electricity production and a 22 % decrease in net electricity imports. At the same time, electricity demand decreased by 2 %.

The increase in nuclear, wind and hydro power in electricity generation reduced the need for combined heat and power (CHP) generation. The need for heat increased the separate production of district heat as less heat was available from the CHP side. Overall, district heat production from fuels decreased as the use of other heat sources increased (e.g. flue gas scrubbers, heat pumps and electric boilers).

Overall, fuel consumption decreased by 6 % in 2023, with fossil fuels and peat decreasing more than renewable fuels (e.g. wood fuels, biogas, renewable fraction of recycled fuel).

The exception to the decrease in fossil fuel use in 2023 was natural gas, which increased by 9 % in energy use compared to the previous year. In 2022, the use of natural gas collapsed to about half of the previous year due to the declining availability and high price of natural gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG). In 2023, combined imports of natural gas and LNG increased by 43 % from the previous year.

A review of Finland's energy dependence on Russia published in the spring provided more details on the changes in natural gas imports during 2023 (review 17.5.2024 available only in Finnish). The information in the review is based on preliminary data.

Reduced consumption of fossil fuels and peat led to a reduction in CO2 emissions. According to the spring proxy estimate of the GHG inventory, carbon dioxide emissions from energy use of fuels amounted to 27.4 million tonnes, a drop of 14 % compared to the previous year.