It will be necessary to double energy production in the Nordic region by 2050. And building it out with only weather-dependent energy is not sustainable, according to Fortum's new analysis.
This would lead to a very volatile power system with limited predictability when it comes to availability and price. It's not what customers want, Fortum notes.
"We at Fortum see that we need to keep all fossil-free technologies in the toolbox even in the future, which is why we will continue to develop the conditions for new nuclear power as a long-term alternative," says Markus Rauramo, CEO of Fortum, in a written comment.
Two-year study
Fortum has just completed a two-year feasibility study on the conditions for building new nuclear power in Sweden or Finland. However, it will not be economically viable to build new reactors without government risk sharing, "like the one being prepared by the government in Sweden", according to Fortum. This is roughly how Swedish Vattenfall also reasons.
In the near future, the Swedish government will present a proposal on how the state's risk-sharing model will look. So far, it has been discussed about government loans of hundreds of billions plus guaranteed prices for the produced electricity. Jesper Marklund notes that Sweden has come further than Finland in the political discussions about the conditions for building new nuclear power.
"Don't want to speculate"
Fortum is hot on the heels of Swedish Vattenfall's parallel studies on building new nuclear power. Whether a partnership would be possible with the Swedish energy competitor or what happens to Fortum's plans if Vattenfall decides to build more reactors in Sweden, Jesper Marklund does not want to go into.
I don't want to speculate about that, he says.
Even though Fortum has not decided where new potential reactors will be built, Marklund points out that "existing sites are interesting and Fortum has a so-called 'right of first offer' on Uniper's Swedish facilities, including in Oskarshamn".
An investment decision on whether to build new nuclear power in Sweden will take a long time, at the earliest towards the end of the 2020s, according to Marklund. And new reactors in operation can be in place at the earliest in the second half of the 2030s.
Fortum is today the owner, fully or partially, of several nuclear power plants in Finland and Sweden.
In Sweden, Fortum is a co-owner of Forsmark and Oskarshamn.
In Finland, the Finnish energy company owns the nuclear power plants Loviisa and Olkiluoto.
