VZCZCXRO6049
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHHE #0751 2770403
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 040403Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY HELSINKI
TO RUEHEPA/HQ EPA WASHDC
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON DC
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3807
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS HELSINKI 000751 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS FOR OES/EFENDLEY 
WHITE HOUSE FOR CEQ/DBANKS 
EPA FOR PGUNNING 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ENRG TRGY SENV EAGR PINR FI
SUBJECT: FINLAND'S BIOGAS FUTURE HEATS UP 
 
REF: A. HELSINKI 00131 
     ¶B. HELSINKI 00173 
     ¶C. HELSINKI 00580 
 
¶1. (U) On October 25, Aimo Aalto and Nina Broadstreet from 
the Finnish Ministry for Trade and Industry briefed Econoff 
on Finland's strategy to increase support for domestic 
production of energy from biogas/methane.  Following Minister 
Mauri Pekkarinen,s two-day fact finding mission to Germany 
in July to examine German use of biogas and other renewable 
energy resources, Finland is quickly ramping up efforts to 
support domestic methane/biogas production by introducing a 
national "feed-in tariff" (a fixed guaranteed price energy 
companies must pay to biogas producers) for biogas plants 
under 20 megawatts.  Working under a tight timetable, the GOF 
working group, chaired by Aalto, will present Minister 
Pekkarinen with a recommended plan of action, including 
pricing and timetables, by the end of October.  If approved, 
this plan will be crafted into legislation that will ideally 
take effect in late 2008 or early 2009.  Recognizing Finland 
has limited biogas resources, Broadstreet still believes 
Finland will increase energy production from biogas to at 
least 100 MW in the next five years.  GOF officials said the 
transportation sector holds the most promise for efficiently 
using biogas; however, they recognize that market conditions 
are not right at this time for further, wide scale 
transportation use of biogas.  Lacking significant sources of 
biogas close to populated areas, further transportation of 
biogas to cities is not a viable alternative for Finland. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Comment: Finland is still open to joining the 
international Methane to Markets Partnership (M2M); however, 
currently Finland is focused on getting its domestic house in 
order before making broader international commitments.  Aalto 
acknowledged that participation in M2M would enable a sharing 
of best practices at a global scale, potentially accelerating 
Finland's domestic biogas objectives which include increasing 
energy security by broadening Finland,s domestic energy 
production and helping Finland meet its climate change Kyoto 
commitments.   End comment. 
WARE