Gas supply The Linkosuo bakery is already preparing to close the gas tap: “Next week we will put the whistles in the bag if we don’t get gas”

Russia is expected to stop supplying natural gas to Finland this week. It anticipates difficulties for industry in Pirkanmaa as well. According to the director of the Linkosuo bakery, consumer prices will inevitably rise as well.

Energy company Gasum estimatesthat the supply of natural gas from Russia to Finland is likely to end late on Friday or Saturday. In Pirkanmaa, too, numerous companies are having to think of ways to replace Russian natural gas.

Linkosuo Bakery is one of the companies that has a plan ready.

“Next week, we’ll put the whistles in the bag if we don’t get gas,” the bakery manager Jarmo Talasrinne says.

Jarmo Talasrinne, director of the Linkosuo bakery.

By bagging the whistles, Talasrinne means that production at the Mannakorventien unit in Kangasala will be completely stopped. According to Talasrinne, it is quite clear that the Linkosuo bakery will not be able to produce the products that are currently being distributed if the gas supply runs out. In this case, co-operation negotiations have taken place in advance.

“We’re going to catch up for a month and we won’t do anything if the gas supply runs out. People will be on summer vacation and working time reductions will be used. If nothing else helps, there may also be layoffs. This has been done in a good spirit because it is known that no one can do anything at all if the worst case scenario materializes, ”says the bakery manager.

However, the cafés and lunch restaurants in Linkosuo remain open. The Kangasala bakery, which mainly produces rye and oat-based snacks, will be able to continue its operations no later than Midsummer. Modification work has been going on there for about a month now, so that the production plant can operate on oil in addition to natural gas, if necessary.

“It’s not terribly nice when responsibility systems steer you somewhere else. But you have to be such a consultant that nothing else can be done, ”says Talasrinne.

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According to Talasrinne, alternatives in line with the green transition have been studied, but no solution can be found quickly: “Solar energy would produce 2.5 weeks of use a year, even if the entire roof area is full of panels. And for geothermal heat, 140 holes should be made in the yard. We don’t have enough land. ”

Gasum is one of the gas sellers in Finland. Director of Corporate Communications and Sustainability Olga Väisänen According to Gasum, its market share last year was just under 60 percent of the Finnish pipeline gas market. For example, the Linkosuo bakery is a customer of Gasum.

Earlier this week, Gasum announced that it would take the natural gas supply contract with Russian Gazprom Export to arbitration. Gasum does not accept Gazprom Export’s demand to pay for gas in rubles instead of euros. Gazprom had demanded a response from Gasum to its ruble demands by May 20, the Friday of this week.

“At the moment, gas supplies will continue as before, but the risk that natural gas supplies from Russia under our supply agreement will end is high,” Väisänen estimates on Wednesday.

Gazprom cut off gas supplies to Bulgaria and Poland on 27 April. Gas supplies from Russia may now stop in other EU countries as well as Finland.

Arbitration can take months. In the event of a gas supply disruption from Russia, Gasum will strive to supply its customers in Finland with replacement natural gas. According to Väisänen, the company has prepared for the situation together with customers and national authorities responsible for security of supply.

“In the coming summer season, we will strive to ensure that our Finnish gas customers have gas from other sources through Balticconnector – subject, of course, to certain restrictions on transmission capacity.”

The Balticconnector pipeline between Finland and Estonia is already bringing natural gas to Finland. According to Väisänen, gas replacing Russian natural gas would come from the liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Klaipėda, Lithuania, and from an underground gas storage facility in Inčukalns, Latvia.

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Gasgrid Finland oy is responsible for the transmission of gas. CEO of Gasgrid Olli Sipilän According to Finland, gas consumption has been less than 40 gigawatt hours a day, and this capacity would be exceeded in the summer if necessary. Maintenance work is planned for the Baltic end in July, but it will be moved if necessary.

Forest Board The plans for the Takon board mill in Tampere are based specifically on the availability of alternative natural gas from the Balticconnector pipeline. Factory manager Jaakko Ikonen according to which the situation is closely monitored.

“This is how we have been told that there will be enough gas until the next heating season. But if the situation demands it, we at Tako are ready to turn steam production to fuel oil, ”says Ikonen.

The burners were still in the tuning phase when Tako tested them last week. According to Ikonen, the burn mixture ratio will be improved before the next experiment.

The oil option has been in the plant’s environmental permit for decades, but has not been in full use for more than 10 years. “There has not been such a tough situation ahead.”

With regard to the drying of cardboard coatings, Tako has not yet chosen a solution to replace natural gas if the need arises. One option would be to take advantage of lng. An lng terminal is opening in Hamina this year. “We are keeping our fingers crossed that the acquisition of a joint Estonian-Finnish lng tanker will also be successful later in the autumn,” says Ikonen.

Ikonen estimates that the situation caused by the Russian energy market may accelerate Metsä Group’s transition to fossil-free energy. Officially, the goal is 2030.

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Linkosuon bakery manager Jarmo Talasrinne is tormented by uncertainty.

“Now we are in a situation where no one knows anything at all. We have the information that when you should pay in rubles on Friday, the end result is that you will not pay in rubles. Gasum does not want to, and the state will not give permission. ”

So Russia’s gas supply is running out, it is considered somewhat secure. It is not known in the food industry whether substitute gas is actually available in the Baltics.

“We don’t know if it’s coming to us. And not whether it is the Security of Supply Center that shares its scarcity. The pipeline supplier, ie the Tampere power plant, does not know this either, ”Talasrinne describes.

Natural gas was introduced in Linkosuo in the early 1980s. Initially, it was possible to use an oil burner alongside the gas. The company switched to gas alone in the late 1990s. “I made the decision I have now deeply regretted. I have watched myself from the game and found that Jarmo! ”

Linkosuo is returning to the fact that the factory is running on two-stage burners, ie also with oil. “Fortunately, we were ahead of schedule. Now the market is quite wild, everyone wants to secure their operations at the moment. ”

Talasrinne considers it clear that the price of food will rise significantly.

“We have two crises in our arms. There is an energy crisis based on the high cost of gas and oil, and then we have a raw materials crisis. The price of wheat will rise by 80%, rapeseed oil by 50% and oats by 45%, and fortunately only 30%. ”

By the beginning of next year, consumer prices for all bread products will see price increases of at least 20 percent, Talasrinne predicts.

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