Storm Hannes demonstrated a serious risk – Finland’s electricity network is too vulnerable
Storm Hannes caused the worst major power disruption in Finland since Storms Tapani and Hannu in 2011. It felled an estimated 20,000 trees on Elenia’s overhead lines alone and left up to 76,000 customers without electricity in a total of one hundred municipalities.
Elenia recovered electricity to its over 60,000 within 24 hours. In total, there were more than 2,800 fault repair tasks in Elenia’s network. The longest power outages caused to customers lasted over a week in winter conditions. The storm damaged the electricity network so badly in many places that it had to be completely rebuilt.
After Hannes, dozens of network companies in Western Finland had nearly 190,000 customers without electricity.
"Fortunately, this time Eastern Finland was spared from storm damage. A nationwide storm would cause the number of customers without electricity to rise clearly above the current total,” says Elenia’s CEO Jorma Myllymäki.
Elenia’s storm costs are estimated to rise to a total of EUR 12–13 million. Over half of these costs consist of compensations to be paid to customers. Elenia has invested more than EUR 1.6 billion in the security of electricity distribution after Storms Tapani and Hannu in 2011.
"We have built more than 35,000 kilometres of weatherproof underground cable network and increased the underground cabling rate from 23% to over 66%. Without our investments, the situation would have been catastrophic for our customers and society at large. These investments have not only improved security of supply, but also increased network capacity and intelligence as society becomes increasingly electrified," says Myllymäki.
Weatherproofing the electricity network is matter of national security
Extreme weather events and geopolitical threats pose a significant risk to the security of electricity distribution and overall national security of supply. There is an increasing need to invest in the security and capacity of electricity distribution, as an electrifying society cannot function in crisis situations without reliable electricity distribution.
"Network companies’ ability to make investments must be guaranteed in the Electricity Market Act and in the regulatory methods of electricity distribution. The current methods have significantly slowed down our investments. In 2021, we built nearly 3,800 kilometres of weatherproof network, but in 2024 we built less than 1,300 kilometres," Myllymäki says.
"We apologise for the worry, distress and damage that the power outages caused to our customers. We would also like to thank our customers for their patience in this difficult situation," says Myllymäki.
"Many thanks also to all the professionals involved for having worked long shifts. Electricians and lumberjacks working in the windy and freezing conditions in the field are the heroes of major power disruptions. I would also like to thank rescue services, wellbeing services counties, municipalities and telecom operators for smooth cooperating," says Myllymäki.
FACT The Finnish distribution network is not sufficiently weatherproof
- Lengths of Elenia’s distribution network 77,000 km, underground cabling rate 66%.
- Length of Finland’s distribution networks is 426,000 km, underground cabling rate 55%.
- There are major regional differences between the 77 distribution network companies.
- Underground cabling is the most efficient way of implementing the quality requirements regarding security of supply of electricity set for 2036 in the Electricity Market Act. According to the Act, a power outage due to storms or snow loads may not exceed 6 hours in a zoning area or 36 hours outside a zoning area.
FACT Elenia’s crisis organisation works 24/7 during emergencies
- In addition to Elenia’s own personnel, there are approximately 300 contractor partners’ installers, lumberjacks and electricians.
- Fault location and repairs make use of helicopters, drones, excavators, forestry machines, cranes and watercraft.
- The new generation of smart meters is a great help in fault location and the effective management of zero faults that pose a threat to safety.
- Continuous and close cooperation between rescue services, wellbeing services counties, municipalities and telecom operators.
- A total of 14,000 customer calls and 3,800 customer fault notifications.
- A total of 2,000 care service calls and more than 400,000 SMS messages by Elenia.
