Business Finland chief wants grid queue priority tied to R&D and local sourcing
Lassi Noponen, Director General of Business Finland, says Finland asks too little of data centre developers. He suggests that commitments to research, development or Finnish suppliers could move a project up the queue for scarce grid connections.
Finland should ask far more of data centre developers than its municipalities do today, Lassi Noponen, Director General of state-owned Business Finland, said in an interview published by Yle on 9 October and reported in English by Yle News.
Municipalities currently negotiate with data centre companies for tax revenue and local benefits. Noponen argues that they lack the bargaining power for the scale of commitments he has in mind, and that the terms should be coordinated nationally. Business Finland, which advises foreign companies investing in Finland, is contacted by prospective data centre builders daily, according to Yle News.
The lever he points to is the grid connection, which data centres typically receive directly from the state grid operator Fingrid. "Research and development activity, or some other condition, could move a data centre builder higher up the priority list when we grant our limited electricity connection permits," Noponen said (translated from Finnish by Yle News). Sourcing components and services in Finland could be another such condition.
Noponen set out the reasoning in a blog post on 1 October: "When electricity and grid capacity is limited, not all data centres are equally valuable to Finland" (translated from Finnish). He describes a national prioritisation framework, not a fixed set of permit conditions, with criteria such as new power generation, grid flexibility, use of waste heat, research and development and Finnish suppliers.
A change to the connection rules is already in progress. The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment sent a draft amendment to the Electricity Market Act out for consultation on 18 September, with a deadline of 9 October. According to a summary by law firm HPP, connection requests would be placed in four priority groups, with data centres above 10 MW in the third. Requests would be ranked by location, stage of development and voluntary commitments on flexibility or electricity production. The summary does not list research or local sourcing among the criteria.
For Nordic operators, developers and suppliers planning capacity in Finland, the draft already changes how requests are ranked where the grid is congested. Noponen's suggestion would add industrial policy conditions to that ranking. He told Yle he does not believe tougher terms would end international operators' interest in Finland.
The amended law is intended to enter into force on 1 January 2027, with the first batch of requests outside the top group to be processed by 31 December 2027.
Source: Yle, Yle News, Business Finland, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, HPP
This article was written with AI assistance and reviewed by the SDC-Platform editorial team before publication.
