SUOMEN VOIMA: Quietly Shaping the Future of Energy
Suomen Voima is making the most of the Mankala principle as it invests further to bring efficient power generation assets online across the Nordics. CEO Pekka Saijonmaa explains more about growing influence while managing risk and navigating industry challenges.
Supported by:
There’s a quiet confidence to the way Suomen Voima (SV) operates. In a European energy landscape often crowded with PR noise and greenwashing gimmicks, SV has taken a markedly different approach. The company, built on a uniquely Finnish model, has become one of the most dependable players in Finland’s evolving energy transition—providing clean, reliable electricity to a growing group of owners, without chasing profit.
“We operate under the Mankala principle which is in its current form a Finland-specific idea where we procure the electricity at cost to our owners and we aim for a zero result in terms of taxation,” CEO Pekka Saijonmaa tells Energy Focus. “The turnover depends on the electricity price but last year it was around 110 million and the balance is around 300 million. Our portfolio is around 1.5 TWh and we are proud of that as a base.”
At a time when volatility defines energy markets across Europe, SV has steadily built a reputation for efficiency, collaboration, and long-term thinking. The company may be low-profile, but its work is anything but small-scale.
BUILT DIFFERENT
At the heart of Suomen Voima is the Mankala model—a uniquely Finnish, cost-price cooperative framework that enables multiple smaller or mid-sized utilities to invest in energy projects together. It’s a system that focuses not on profit, but on resilience and accessibility.
“The original purpose is to pool electricity sourcing from small and medium-sized electric utilities,” Saijonmaa explains. “And as we have started it has been mostly focused on identifying investment opportunities and driving more production as we spread into different technologies and diversify.”
What began as an investment vehicle has grown into a full-spectrum energy organisation. SV now manages a balanced, diversified portfolio that includes hydro, wind, nuclear, solar, and emerging storage assets.
“As we have driven up production, operational excellence and best practice has become equally important alongside asset management and trading exercises. We have to consider responsible balance handling, flexibility, and risk mitigation. We have to offer our owners different solutions.”
Before becoming CEO, Saijonmaa spent eight years at SV working on development, following a consultancy career at Pöyry (now AFRY).
“I have always had a strong focus on markets and the development of markets, identifying opportunities for the future,” he says.
That mindset is crucial in today’s rapidly changing energy environment. Finland, like many EU nations, is undergoing a significant shift—towards intermittent renewables, decentralised assets, and a need for new flexibility and storage technologies.
“The aim is to continue growing and we will do so in the same way we have. We are certainly still growing, and we want to grow our geographic focus areas in the Nordics,” says Saijonmaa.
STORAGE STEPS FORWARD
Increased wind and solar penetration has been a key driver behind SV’s latest investment focus: pumped hydro storage.
“We have various pumped storage projects ongoing, which is a new thing for Finland. Increased wind energy production has brought volatility and that requires new ideas,” Saijonmaa explains.
Hydropower is already a staple of the Nordic system, but large-scale pumped storage—where energy is stored by moving water between reservoirs—offers something new: grid flexibility.
“Pumped storage projects are our main focus because of their size. The generation is more conventional but the flexibility management, including IT solutions, and how to manage the whole portfolio in terms of trading is significant work,” Saijonmaa says. The first step is already in motion.
FROM PLANS TO PROJECTS
In April 2025, SV published the EIA program for the Kapusta pumped hydro storage power plant, part of the Noste energy project
“The aim of the Noste energy storage project, officially launched in 2023, is to build 1-3 small-scale pumped hydro storage power plants in Northern Finland to support Finland’s green transition and to ensure energy availability,” says Saijonmaa.
Kapusta is a 100 MW flagship, and the first of its kind in Finland. Planned for the Kapusta area of Kemijärvi, after a reservation agreement was signed in June 2024, an upper reservoir with a water surface area of approximately 150-180 hectares will be built, from which water will be led to the lower reservoir via a water tunnel no longer than 3.7 km long.
Kemijoki River will act as lower reservoir. Electricity will be transmitted via a maximum of six km of 110 kV transmission line to the Seitakorva substation or, alternatively, via a maximum of 17 km of 110 kV transmission line, partly parallel to the existing 220 kV transmission line to the Pirttikoski substation.
A EUROPEAN CONTEXT
While the Mankala model is distinct to Finland, its principles are increasingly relevant across the European energy landscape.
The EU is pushing for greater decentralisation, smarter grids, and a just transition. Cooperative frameworks that reduce exposure to market fluctuations and encourage long-term thinking are gaining new interest—especially as public support for the energy transition becomes a more prominent metric.
“This approach allows our owners to secure competitively priced electricity without taking on speculative risks. We are not a utility in the traditional sense. We are an enabler,” says Saijonmaa.
The company’s ability to plan over decades rather than quarters puts it in a strong position, particularly when investing in capital-intensive assets like pumped storage and nuclear.
COLLABORATION CULTURE
SV’s growth has never been about empire building. Instead, its strategy is built on collaboration and shared outcomes.
“At the start of the year, we welcomed a new shareholders, Äänekosken Energia, owned by the city of Äänekoski. We are excited to welcome Äänekosken Energia to Suomen Voima. This partnership enhances SV’s ability to continue its growth trajectory, providing portfolio diversification and collaborative solutions for its owners,” says Saijonmaa.
These partnerships increasingly stretch beyond Finnish borders. Recent success in Norway has buoyed the company’s growth aspirations.
“In September 2024, we opened the Flateland Power Plant – a 47 GWh hydro project – where we are a 90% owner. The Flateland project has been exceptional not only for the outcome but also for the process where all stakeholders and local people have been brought together to make this happen. We want to thank Cadre (operator) and Tinfos (contractor) for the key roles in the project as well as landowners and other stakeholders for their contribution.”
Flexibility also defines SV’s technology portfolio. While pumped hydro is the current investment focus, the company continues to invest across other areas.
“In March 2025, we increased our ownership in Olkiluoto 1 and 2 by acquiring additional Pohjolan Voima Oyj B-shares from Yara Suomi Oy and Yara Suomen Eläkesäätiö. The acquisition is a very welcomed addition to Suomen Voima’s portfolio bringing reliable and clean baseload power production to Suomen Voima’s owners.”
The company also continues to explore solar.
“In 2023, we invested in the Kannuksen-Hietakangas Oy’s ready-to-build 5MW solar power plant located in Kannus, Central Ostrobothnia. Our share of the power plant will be 39.29%, which corresponds to approximately a 2MW stake in the project.”
Wind drives the green transition in the Nordics.
“Whereas flexibility enables system transition towards weather dependent production, wind is currently the main technology providing the much-needed new megawatt hours to feed the increasing consumption. We hold around 2 TWh development pipeline through our affiliate Puhuri Oy.”
REALISM AND REGULATION
Even with the momentum behind clean energy, SV is aware of the friction that still exists between policy and progress.
“It is often misunderstood in the public and in the industry what the green transition actually means. It is frustrating to see many stuck in the old ways of thinking and not seeing where we are going – reflected in regulation. This impacts everything we do. The risks of overregulating what are very big investments are important to understand,” Saijonmaa notes.
That tension between ambition and bureaucracy is one faced by every serious energy player in Europe. SV’s advantage is its ability to stay agile while investing for the long term.
Despite regulatory roadblocks and market headwinds, the SV team remains optimistic—because the fundamentals are on their side. Electrification is accelerating. Nordic cooperation is strengthening. And technologies like pumped storage are gaining policy traction.
“We are always looking for new projects and happy to explore across technologies including wind, solar, hydro, nuclear, or other innovations,” says Saijonmaa.
Flexibility, after all, isn’t just about how you run a grid. It’s how you run a business.