The Olkiluoto nuclear power plant operated by Teollisuuden Voima (TVO) experienced an interruption in electricity production due to a fault detected in the turbine plant. The estimated end time for the turbine plant fault is Wednesday at 01 am, with production power expected to gradually increase after that.

Finland was dependent on imported electricity on Monday morning as a result of the interruption, with Sweden and Norway’s hydropower making up for the shortfall. The fault in OL3 came as a surprise, as the plant had been running without problems until then. It is uncertain when production will resume, and the timing depends on the nature of the fault and the repair estimate.

OL3 is of great importance in stabilizing the price of electricity in Finland, and its fault came at a time when the country is experiencing an intensifying frost with no support for wind power. This is expected to lead to a rise in spot prices, with hourly prices for Tuesday’s stock electricity to be determined at 2 p.m.

The Energy Industry Association’s director responsible for energy market Pekka Salomaa expects that this outage will lead to an increase in electricity prices. He says “The Olkiluoto nuclear power plant outage has caused increased demand for electricity from other sources such as coal-fired plants, which will likely result in higher spot prices.”