Helen shuts down its last coal-fired power plant in Salmisaari, ending the era of coal
Helen Ltd shuts down the coal-fired Salmisaari power plant on 1 April 2025, which in practice means the end of the era of coal and increased self-sufficiency in Finnish energy production*. With the end of coal-based energy production, Helen’s annual carbon dioxide emissions will decrease by 50 per cent compared to 2024 and, for the City of Helsinki, will also fall by approximately 30 per cent. Finland's total emissions will thus decrease by nearly two per cent.
The closure of the coal-fired Salmisaari power plant represents a significant milestone for Helen’s emission reduction targets, as the company’s emissions are now estimated to be less than 20 per cent of the 1990 level.
"Giving up coal is a concrete step towards Helen’s clean, self-sufficient and affordable energy production,” says Helen’s CEO Olli Sirkka.
Helen will further reduce emissions by investing in clean transition solutions so that the company’s emissions will be less than 5 per cent of the 1990 level by 2030. Helen has already made all of the significant investment decisions to achieve this, and the related production plants are under construction.
Cleaner production enables lower prices
At this stage, the company’s investments have already made the company’s production not only cleaner, but also more self-sufficient and cost-efficient, which has meant more competitive services for customers. Since May 2024, Helen has reduced its customer prices for district heating twice.
"We have been able to improve our competitiveness by investing in the flexibility of the energy system in line with our strategy and shifting our production to clean solutions. This way, we can operate more profitably with lower customer prices. Our success is an excellent indication that, at best, the clean transition, cost efficiency and Finland’s security of supply can go hand in hand," Sirkka says.
Giving up coal will colour the sky in Helsinki on 1 April
The closure of the coal-fired Salmisaari power plant is a significant step towards not only cleaner, but also more self-sufficient energy production as coal ships disappear from the ports of Helsinki. The scale of this achievement is illustrated by the fact that coal still accounted for 64 per cent of Helen’s district heating production in 2022.
"Helen giving up coal and, at the same time, foreign imported energy with regard to it, will remain a significant part of our country’s industrial history and shows that Finnish energy expertise enables actions that initially seemed impossible. In fact, I would first and foremost like to thank Helen’s employees, but also all of our partners and the entire Finnish energy sector for this enormous achievement. We have done this together," says Sirkka.
The end of the era of coal will also be seen in the skies of Helsinki on Tuesday 1 April, when the coal-fired Salmisaari power plant being relieved of its duties will be celebrated by giving colourful memorial smoke signals from the plant’s retiring chimney between 9 a.m. and noon.
*Finland will retain reserve coal capacity for security of supply purposes, which can be deployed if necessary. In addition, some energy companies use small amounts of coal in their energy production for peak, reserve and security of supply reasons. According to Finnish legislation, it is not possible to use coal in energy production after 1 May 2029.
Facts about the end of the era of coal:
- Impacts on carbon dioxide emissions: The closure of the Salmisaari power plant on 1 April 2025 will reduce Helen’s GHG emissions by 50 per cent year-on-year and the City of Helsinki’s emissions by 30 per cent. Finland's total emissions will decrease by nearly 2 per cent. In 2025, Helen’s GHG emissions will be approximately 80 per cent lower than in 1990.
- Price: The phasing out of coal is also reflected in lower customer price. Helen has already twice announced two price reductions for our district heating customers since May 2024. The forecast for the total average price of district heating for 2025 will decrease by an average of 5.8 per cent compared to 2024.
- Replacing production: Our heat production will mainly consist of heat pumps utilising waste and environmental heat, electric boilers, energy storage and sustainable bioenergy. We will produce electricity mainly with wind, nuclear, hydro and solar power. Read more about it here.
- Finland: In Finland, the use of coal in energy production has fallen from approximately 40,000 gigawatt hours in 2010 to a marginal level. At the same time, the annual average electricity prices in relation to the consumer price index are at the same level as in 2012, and Finland has the third-cheapest electricity in Europe after Sweden and Norway (Electricity wholesale prices in 2024, Finnish Energy, statistics on electricity).
