The upgrades are part of Teollisuuden Voima Oyj’s (TVO) long-term investment programme and are needed under Finnish and European Union legislation. The financing follows a EUR75 million loan agreement in April with the Nordic Investment Bank towards the upgrade programme.
European Investment Bank Vice-President Karl Nehammer said: “By supporting safety upgrades at Olkiluoto, we are helping Finland strengthen its energy mix with reliable, low-carbon power. This investment supports Finland’s energy independence and contributes to the EU’s goals of ensuring secure and clean electricity for homes and businesses.”
TVO Senior Vice-President, Treasury Lauri Piekkari, said: “Long-term financing from the EIB is an excellent complement to our capital market-based debt funding.”
The upgrades are described as a key part of maintaining high safety standards and reliability at the plant, and follow other European Investment Bank (EIB)-backed enhancements in 2016.
Olkiluoto units I and II – which were first connected to the grid in September 1978 and February 1980, respectively – currently meet 15% of Finland’s electricity TVO is considering extending the operating licences by a further 10-20 years and increasing the power output of each reactor from 890 MW to approximately 970 MWe.
TVO submitted the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report for the project to extend the operation of and uprate Olkiluoto I and II to Finland’s Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment in December 2024 and the EIA reporting stage was completed earlier this month with the ministry issuing its Reasoned Conclusion. According to the Conclusion, the EIA Report meets the requirements laid down in EIA legislation.
The EIB is the long-term lending institution of the European Union, owned by its Member States. The upgrade programme fits with the EU’s “strategic objective of having competitive, emissions-free and secure energy” and the EU’s Energy Roadmap 2050, “which foresees nuclear energy continuing to play a role in the energy mix of Member States that choose to use it”.
