Rainy summers evaporate Finnish peat reserves

Plans to import peat from Estonia this autumn

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After two successive summers blighted by almost continuous rains, bog peat for energy use has become a sought-after commodity in Finland. Compared with a normal production target of 20 million cubic metres, only half of this was achieved this summer.
      It is possible to manage one damp summer with reserves, but the capacity is not sufficient enough to tolerate two successive summers with excessive rain. The reserves are more or less empty.
      The state-owned (50.1%) bioenergy company Vapo is the world's leading supplier of peat for fuel, and most of the peat Vapo harvests is used to generate heat and power in towns and as a fuel in industry to generate power, heat, and steam.
     
As a consequence of the high price for coal and electricity as well as the restricted availability of energy wood, the consumption of peat has been higher than average over the current year.
      Energy suppliers have been forced to use heavy fuel oil to compensate the shortage of peat. Unfortunately, heavy fuel oil happens to be three times as expensive as peat.
      For example Kuopio Energy has decided to raise the price for district heating by 25 % in October, after which its prices will approach the average prices in Finland.
     
Early this week a ship carried peat from Estonia to the Harbour of Kumpusaari in Kuopio. A total of around 1,000 truckloads of peat will be carried from Vapo’s Estonian production plant during the autumn. In addition to Kuopio, at least Pietarsaari will be receiving peat from the same source.
      ”Estonia produces good-quality peat. Its sulphur concentration is somewhat higher but it is not significant”, reports Esa Lindholm, the Managing Director of Kuopio Energy.
     
So far, Oulu has been the most profitable Finnish energy producer with its self-sufficient peat resources. The share of peat among the fuels used for energy production at the local energy supplier Oulun Energia was 85% in 2007. Now the shortage of peat will force Oulun Energia to use wood, coal, and oil.
      Tapani Kurkela, the Managing Director of Oulun Energia, reports that the company will have to raise the price for district heating by 14% from the beginning of next year.
      As Oulun Energia has a possibility to use coal from Rautaruukki’s Raahe plant, for the time being there is no need to import peat from outside Finland.
      While Finland is rich in peat bogs, it takes a long time before they can be made use of.
      Lauri Korkeala, Vapo’s regional manager in charge of Eastern Finland, reports that environmental permit authorities have slowed down the process in recent years.
      ”Previously a decision on environmental permits for the deployment of new bogs took around 12 months, but today the same process can take as long as three years”, complains Lauri Korkeala, saying that the situation is bizarre.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  International Energy Agency criticises Finnish peat subsidies (27.3.2008)
  Vapo to manufacture bio diesel raw material from peat (12.12.2007)

Links:
  Environmental Permit Authorities
  Peat in Finland (Wikipedia)
  Vapo

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