Finnish regulators and communities are escalating opposition to data center expansion due to rising regional electricity consumption.

Finnish municipalities continue to support data center construction despite resident concerns over the adequacy and cost of electricity. According to YLE News, city and community leaders maintain that regulating market electricity prices falls outside local government jurisdiction. Because permitting authority rests with municipalities—which oversee land-use planning and building approvals—cities like Lahti have announced plans to host a second data center. Riikka Moilanen, head of the Janakkala municipality, stated that local authorities evaluate permitting procedures and the environmental impact of investments, while decisions on electricity adequacy and pricing are handled by other agencies.

In mid-August, transmission system operator Fingrid reported that Finland’s electricity consumption was beginning to rise sharply, driven in part by data center and electric boiler projects. The company estimated that full implementation of all planned facilities could increase national electricity demand by nearly 40% over the next five years. Speaking to Helsingin Sanomat, Jussi Jyrinsalo, Fingrid’s head of grid planning, warned that deploying a significant share of these planned data centers could drive electricity prices upward. At the same time, Antti Paananen, head of the market unit at the Finnish Energy Authority, stressed that linking market electricity prices to any single large consumer, including a data center, remains difficult.

Earthworks have commenced in Forssa for Finland’s largest data center. If fully realized, the facility could consume approximately 8% of the country’s total electricity. Forssa city manager Jari Kesäniemi said Fingrid has assured the project of a sufficient power supply and described data centers as an important incentive for green transition initiatives. Meanwhile, a proposed data center near Highway No. 3 in Janakkala is currently in the permitting phase. Moilanen emphasized the project’s economic value to the community, citing construction jobs, land rent, and tax revenue, estimating potential annual property tax income at €500,000.

Lahti Energia projects that the data center under construction in Lahti will double the city’s electricity consumption. Despite this surge, Samuli Honkapuro, a professor of energy markets and energy systems at LUT University, maintains that Finland has sufficient fossil-free generation capacity to meet the additional demand. He identified load flexibility as the central challenge: during periods of electricity shortage, computing capacity could potentially be transferred to data centers in other countries.