Maria Rautanen wrote that a law was being prepared in Finland that would require the installation of solar panels on existing public buildings larger than 250 m² starting in 2031. She linked the preparation to the EU's Energy Efficiency Directive for Buildings and asked whether the effects of the directive were adequately assessed in Finnish conditions. Rautanen argued that Finland could not be compared to sunny Mediterranean countries that used a lot of fossil fuels. She noted that Finland's electricity consumption emission factor was only 26 g CO₂/kWh in 2025 and pointed out that solar panels produced energy mostly in the summer when the electricity system was already low-emission and energy consumption was lower. She wrote that the solar panel production chain was heavily concentrated in China and that a lot of coal-generated electricity was still used in their manufacturing. According to Rautanen, 78,000 MW of new coal power was commissioned in China in 2025. Rautanen asked who would pay for the new investments while municipalities were balancing their budgets and welfare areas were looking for savings. She demanded a calculation of the costs and financing of the investments, as well as how much the solar panels made in China would reduce Finland's CO₂ emissions over their entire lifespan. She also questioned whether the panels would offset their carbon footprint during production and assessed that the rationality of the directive in Finland could not be determined without a calculation based on Finnish conditions. https://t.co/ba6sqYwZ2l #Aurinkoenergia #Energiatehokkuus #Suomi (translated)
