I joined Fortum in January 2024 to lead the Corporate Customers unit. Our team focuses on B2B sales to large Industrial Customers and Customer Site Development for large new industrial investments. The opportunity to work within the core of Fortum’s strategy – collaborating with our customers and other key stakeholders to decarbonise industries – caught my attention in late 2023 and inspired me to join Fortum.
Working with customers and solving their most burning issues has always been a passion of mine, across the various industries I have worked in. Today, the Corporate Customers Team is deeply involved in optimizing the electricity supply profiles of our customers and finding the ideal mix of clean power generation to meet their needs. Our customers are interested in both short-term hedging and long-term PPA (Power Purchasing Agreement) based contracts. The more electricity is needed, the more valuable the long-term predictability of the operational costs of electricity becomes.
Additionally, we help our customers with the demand response of their industrial processes and the re-use of, for example, excess heat in various types of industrial buildings and processes. Finland and Sweden, in particular, also offer excellent industrial sites for large production facilities, such as green steel factories or e-fuel production, and data centres.
For example in Finland, we are currently developing several new industrial sites for data centres and e-fuel plants, and repurposing old power plant sites for green steel and other clean transition projects. Our aim is to be a catalyst and enabler for further investments – together with our customers as well as municipalities – and to invite all required and interested parties to collaborate.
Electrification is the cornerstone of decarbonisation in many industries
The key to the clean transition and the decarbonisation of industries is electrification – and that makes Finland and Sweden excellent locations for clean transition investments. Both countries have rich CO2-free energy resources; in Finland, 94% of the electricity mix was CO2-free in 2023, and in Sweden 99%. Both countries also have the potential to grow their renewable energy capacities and are also exploring the possibilities for new nuclear. In addition to clean energy being readily available, the Nordics have a world-leading grid reliability and an efficient electricity market. Despite the volatility in energy prices during the past two years, the spot prices in Finland and Sweden have been the cheapest in Europe.*
Electrification of industries requires a lot of clean energy as well as collaboration between the customer and the energy provider to ensure an understanding of the energy needs of businesses. Fortum has decades of experience as a power generator and operator. With that experience, we have acquired deep know-how in energy markets and their technologies. Additionally, with a strong presence in the Nordics, Fortum has a broad power generation portfolio with an optimal mix of clean energy. Hence, we are in an excellent position to help energy-intensive industry customers to decarbonise.
The momentum for investments is now
In recent years, we have witnessed a significant roll-out of wind power, and now solar energy is following suit. The increased share of renewables also creates more volatility in the energy system, and therefore it is important that the “dinner plate of electricity” stays in balance. This means combining firm, flexible and variable energy that enables the Nordic power market to grow with clean power and competitive prices also in the future.
To conclude, it is clear that the next wave of industrial investments will rely on clean energy. The list of new projects in the pipeline is long, and we are committed to supporting them. The big question is – how do we make sure the Nordics really become the future El Dorado of electrification? We have all the benefits – from competitive electricity prices to CO2-free energy and world-leading grid reliability, coupled with large and scalable industrial sites. My two cents to this delicate question is that we need to become even better at seizing new opportunities together. This is a call for cooperation! If we really want to pave the way for new investments in the Nordics, we cannot wait for someone else to do it – we need to act now. One for all and all for one.
*https://energy-charts.info/
