Fortum

History

The predecessor of Fortum was Imatran Voima, which was founded in 1932 to operate the Imatrankoski hydroelectric power plant in Imatra. Imatran Voima acquired and built a number of other power plants, such as the largest hydroelectric power plants along the Oulujoki river, Inkoo and Naantali coal-fired powerplants and the Loviisa nuclear power plant. Fortum Corporation was founded in 1998. It was created from the merging of Imatran Voima and Neste Oy, the Finnish national oil company. Most of Neste's assets were divested into a separate stock-listed company Neste Oil in 2005.

In 2007, Fortum acquired 25.66% stake in TGK-1, operating in northwest Russia. In 2008, Fortum privatized the power and heat generation company TGK-10 (now: OAO Fortum), operating in central and northern Russia.

In 2011, Fortum sold its 25% stake in the Finnish transmission system operator Fingrid. In December 2013 Fortum announced the sale of its distribution network in Finland to Suomi Power Networks. Suomi Power Networks is owned by First State Investments (40%), Borealis Infrastructure (40%), Keva (12,5%) and LähiTapiola (7,5%). In the same year it sold its Norwegian electricity distribution network and also its stakes in Fredrikstad Energi and Fredrikstad Energi Nett to the Hafslund Group and heat business to iCON Infrastructure Partners II, L.P. fund.

Hydroelectric power

Hydro power has always been a core activity to Fortum, and is the company's most significant renewable electricity production form. Fortum currently owns or co-owns 159 hydro power plants in Finland and Sweden, totalling about 4,600 MW of production capacity. Hydro power amounts to 48% of the power produced by Fortum in Nordic countries, and 1/3 of the total power produced by Fortum each year. The power plants with the largest capacity are located on the Dalälven, Indalsälven and Ljusnan rivers in central Sweden and on the Oulujoki, Kemijoki and Vuoksi rivers in Finland.

Fortum meets the ISO 14001 norm for preservation of the environment, and the OHSAS 18001 norm for health and safety. The hydro power fleet has benefitted from a stable investment policy: in its ongoing hydro power investment program Fortum has invested about 270 million euros for the modernization of almost 50 hydro power production sites since the early 1990s.

Nuclear power

Fortum has been producing nuclear power since 1977. The company owns the nuclear plant in Loviisa, Finland, which covers around 10% of the country's energy production. Its nuclear assets also cover Sweden with a 45.5% share ownership in the Oskarshamn Nuclear Power Plant and 22% of Forsmark Nuclear Power Plant. Furthermore, Fortum owns a 26.6% stake in the Teollisuuden Voima, which operates two nuclear power plants at Olkiluoto and is currently building a third one in co-operation with Areva-Siemens consortium. Fortum does not own nuclear power in Russia.

Fortum signed an agreement with Rosatom and British Rolls-Royce Engines, which is not the same company as Rolls-Royce Motor Cars the wholly owned English subsidiary of German automaker BMW, to develop nuclear power in September 2013. The company also offers nuclear safety and waste management services, as well as system supplies for the nuclear power industry. Fortum is also participating in the world's largest decontamination operation of radioactive liquids at the Fukushima disaster cleanup.

Combined production of heat and electric power (cogeneration or CHP)

Fortum produces and sells heat in Nordic countries and Baltic countries, Russia and Poland, with 26 plants combining production of heat (district heating) and electric power. Fortum is the 5th largest heat producer globally. In 2013, Fortum opened two new CHP utilities using waste as a fuel in Klaipeda, Lithuania, and Brista, Sweden as well as new biomass-fuelled CHP plants in Jelgava, Latvia, and Järvenpää, Finland.

Electricity and heat sales

Fortum sells electricity, electricity products and services to 1.2 million customers in Sweden, Finland and Norway. In 2013, the company sold a total of 12.1 terawatt-hours of electricity. The company also owns and operates about 1,200 km of district heat network in Finland, 2,400 km in Sweden, 860 km in Poland, 300 km in the Baltic countries and 480 km in Russia. Heat is being sold in eight countries to companies, municipalities and private customers.

Solar power

In June 2013, Fortum acquired a 5 MW solar power plant in the state of Rajasthan in India. The company has stated that its ambition is to build a small photo-voltaic solar portfolio to gain experience in different solar technologies and in operating in the Indian power market. Fortum also sells solar power kits in the Nordic countries.

Recently, Fortum has expanded its solar portfolio in India with a MW solar plant in Madhya Pradesh. 10 Incidentally, the project is the first greenfield solar plant from Fortum and also the first one to be commissioned under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) Phase II initiative.

The solar power plant 10MW spreads over about 70 acres in Kapeli, Dist. Ujjain. Fortum has adopted a thin-film CdTe technology with more than 1,25,000 modules mounted on fixed tilt structures and 15 central invertors, which allows for better control of carbon footprint, water use and energy payback time. This solar plant is second investment in Indian solar sector by Fortum.

Environment

Fortum has the biggest market share of ecolabeled electricity in Finland. With three hydropower plants, seven biomass plants and four wind parks the company has also more EKOenergy certified power stations than any other company in Finland. According to Fortum's own publications it is also the largest seller of Bra Miljöval certified energy in Sweden.

India

On February 2014, Finnish energy company Fortum has equipped three schools from Bhilwara consists of over 1200 students with solar-powered infrastructure, with an objective to meet the schools' power needs in an efficient and sustainable way. The announcement was made at Fortum’s Bhilwara solar plant, in the presence of former President of Finland, Ms Tarja Halonen.

Amidst the heat wave in Rajasthan, where mercury goes beyond 45 degree Celsius, it is a normal phenomenon to see a drop in attendance and sometimes it goes below 50%.

Fortum’s effort has brought relief to the lives of these 1200 students. Today, they can study in a friendly atmosphere and without any interruption. During the summers of 2014, these schools have observed a significant improvement, with approximately 95% attendance every day.

This initiative was a part of Fortum's corporate social responsibility and its contribution to the development and well-being of the local society. This initiative has also inherited the sense of energy utilisation among these young citizens, and made them understand the values that solar energy can bring into the society.