Finland
PV technology status and prospects
Leena Grandell, Motiva Oy 		home > annual reports > annual report 2002 >

General Framework

Fig. 1 - Ekoviikki area is a unique ecological housing area in the capital Helsinki. Special emphasis has been put on several ecological issues such as energy. By the end of 2002, the largest building integrated PV system in Finland in a dwelling house (24 kWp) was installed. The modules are partly see-through type and they form part of the balcony glassing on south and west sides of the building. During summer time, the excess electricity is fed into the grid whereas in winter months the local energy company returns it back. Approximately one fourth of the electricity consumption over the year is generated by PV. [Photo Solpros Ay] In the past, main efforts in Finland regarding photovoltaics have been set on research and development. However, this changed when the Ministry of Trade and Industry launched an Action Plan for Renewable Energy Sources in 1999, in which clearly more emphasis is given for the enhancement of the domestic market development. The Action Plan is one crucial part of the National Climate Strategy, which has been formulated to achieve the goals of greenhouse gas reductions set for Finland by the Kyoto Protocol. During 2002, the Action Plan has been evaluated and revised.

The photovoltaic sector is still fairly modest in Finland, providing work to approximately less than 100 employees. The main actors consist of several companies (suppliers and consultant companies), a number of research institutes and two associations. Within the government, the Ministry of Trade and Industry has the main responsibility for enhancing renewable energy sources, including photovoltaics. Motiva, the Energy Information Centre for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Sources has also an active role in the enhancement of the market. During 2001, a network called FSI, Finnish Solar Industries, was established consisting of companies and other entities. The purpose of the network is to enhance the opening of the PV markets through collaboration.
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National Programme

The Action Plan for Renewable Energy Sources sets objectives for the volume of energy generated by renewable sources in the year 2010, and in addition a prognosis on the development until 2025 is included. Even though the main emphasis of the Action Plan clearly lies on bioenergy, very ambitious goals are also set for solar energy, including photovoltaics. The objective for installed photovoltaic capacity in 2010 is 40 MWp, meaning a 20 fold increase when compared with the 1998 situation. The prognosis for 2025 is 500 MWp. Thus, the main emphasis in the coming decade is on creating the needed infrastructure (awareness, information dissemination, export, industrial activities) whereas volume effects are sought later. The impact of photovoltaics on the total environmental effects of the Action Plan is assessed to be less than 1 % in 2010.

Examples of concrete actions during the coming years include among others a comprehensive information dissemination plan, changing of building requirements to account for solar energy, or various actions to help small scale electricity producers to enter the grid.
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Research and Development

Research and development work on photovoltaics is carried out by a number of institutes, mainly Helsinki University of Technology, Tampere University of Technology, University of Jyväskylä and Technical Research Centre of Finland. Also a number of companies, like Fortum Ltd and Rautaruukki Oy are active in the field. Tekes, Technology Development Centre, is the main national funding source. Public research funds are being distributed on project basis. During 2002, a couple of research institutes and companies received funding mainly for development of new materials as well as optimization on the system level.

Helsinki University of Technology, being the main actor in the research field, concentrated on research on ageing phenomenon of solar cells as well as new materials. Thin film cells (especially Cadmium Telluride CdTe and Gallium Diselenide CIGS) are interesting with respect to their stability in varying outdoor conditions. Accelerated ageing studies are being carried out in laboratory conditions. Dye sensitized solar cells is a new area of interest funded by Tekes. Here the aim is to concentrate on manufacturing technological aspects with the aim of understanding factors critical to the performance of the cell and development of new manufacturing methods applicable to large scale production.
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Initiatives from government and utilities

During 2002, investment subsidies in solar energy have been risen from the previous level of 30 % to 40 % to be comparable with other new technologies such as wind energy. Another change sought in the near future is that subsidies will be made available to private persons. Until now only communities, organizations and enterprises have been granted subsidies. During 2003, subsidies for renovation of buildings will be more focused on the energy system. This will comprise also the change of energy source towards renewables.

The Ministry of Trade and Industry is currently developing a system for guarantee of origin for electricity generated by renewable energy sources based on the European RECS project.

A new project has been launched during 2002 concentrating on the development of a solar ESCO approach suitable for the Finnish market situation. The aim of the project is to find solutions to the basic questions such as financing basis and the reliability and performance of the solar system. The project aims to a realization of at least 30 kWp photovoltaic capacity based on the SESCO approach.
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Industry Status

The Finnish PV market is characterized through some 10 importing companies with numerous retailers. No domestic PV cell production exists but on the other hand a number of companies are active in technology development of components and on system level. Thus, several innovations of Finnish companies are on the market. One new product launched in the market in 2002 is a partly see-through PV module used as balcony glassing, which has been demonstrated at the Ekoviikki site in Helsinki.
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Market Development

Three main segments continue to rule the photovoltaic markets in Finland: The domestic markets are still dominated by small solar home systems for vacation houses, typically 50-100 Wp in size. Examples of larger applications in remote areas are telecommunication base stations, weather stations or the 20 larger stand-alone hybrid systems operated by the Finnish Coast Guard. Over the last couple of years building integrated applications have become a new important market segment, the importance of which seems to also be growing in the future.

Table 1. Finnish PV systems 2002 - Cumulative installed capacity
Market segment Cumulative installed capacity (kWp)
Solar home systems 2 680
Stand-alone systems 240
Grid-connected (utility) 32
Grid-connected (rooftop) 96
Total 3 048
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Further reading about Finland


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