2020 was a year that made EPV’s vision for zero-emission energy clear. We developed a new strategy for the Group that bears the name New Electricity Revolution. At the centre of this strategy is renewable electricity, whose production, storage and use are controlled with new technologies. The change will also bring us new business opportunities.

The current state of our planet requires great changes and the acceleration of driving down emissions. As a socially responsible company, EPV will begin to speed up these measures. We completed our new strategy in 2020. The strategy will model the modernisation of the entire society’s energy generation system.

According to our strategy, EPV’s energy production will become completely emission-free by the end of the 2020s. We now have EUR 1,000 million worth of investments in new electricity on our drawing board. In the future, new electricity will be solely generated using the zero-emission energy sources of solar, wind, hydro and nuclear power, which are key to our strategy. In addition, we will utilise emission-free streams of raw material, such as forest energy, and circular economy products, such as industrial producer gases.

The energy system of the future will be managed through energy reserves and new industry

A large part of the energy we will use in the future will come from the sun, and its availability will obviously be determined by nature. Because the availability of new electricity will depend on nature, the new energy system will be more difficult to control, resulting in variations in price according to availability. Consequently, as well as production investments, EPV will have to engage in a lot of other activities too, to ensure it can manage the system.

We will accept the challenge by employing thorough risk management measures: energy reserves and flexible production must be increased and consumption guidance must be further developed. New industries must emerge, and heat will also be produced more and more using electricity in the future. The production and consumption of electricity will increase considerably in the future. EPV will continue to manage its electricity market risk and take care of its balance and energy management in its pioneering Operations Centre.

A new energy era will bring new business opportunities

Previously, electricity production was controlled on terms set by consumption. Now, more and more, consumption will have to start following the terms set by production.  We will have to invest in technological intelligence and price and market analyses in a new way in the future. The quickest and most agile player in the sector will be the star of the game.

In the future, EPV will also become integrated with other sectors, such as industrial energy resources. We will join forces and together develop solutions based on new electricity, for example, for thermal energy generation and industrial processes. With new electricity, we will link the needs of various industries and the energy sector together.

The change has already begun

The upcoming transformation is already evident in the energy sector. Companies are shedding their old operating practices and creating new, more sustainable ones. In the end, this change will concern the society as a whole and all its operators. Electricity plays a central role in everything, which is why we call it the new electricity revolution.

EPV has already taken some important steps to implement its new strategy and the New Electricity Revolution: in Vaskiluoto, Vaasa, we have opened an innovative thermal energy storage facility, which will not only reduce the use of coal, but also bring plenty of flexibility to the energy solutions of the future. Another huge step is the future storage facility for renewable electricity owned jointly by EPV, Wärtsilä, Vaasan Sähkö and the City of Vaasa. Its aim is to utilise overproduction of renewable electricity by manufacturing and storing hydrogen.

Thank you to all our experts, you are real trailblazers

Large changes require the best experts at the helm. I want to extend my sincere thanks to the whole EPV organisation for their important work, progressive solutions and visionary projects. It goes without saying that experiments in new technologies, such as the thermal energy storage facility and hydrogen project, require top know-how. Optimised electricity trading and the forecasting of wind power production are based on demanding algorithms and artificial intelligence, which EPV capitalises on successfully. We have good reason to be proud of our world-class energy know-how. Expertise is the number one tool for a successful New Electricity Revolution.

 

Rami Vuola
CEO