Kraftnät Åland Ab is the transmission system operator for electricity in the Åland Islands, an autonomous Finnish province in the Baltic Sea. Established in 1997 as a limited company under Finnish law, it is wholly owned by the Government of Åland and is certified as a transmission system operator under European legislation. The company owns, operates, maintains and develops the high‑voltage transmission grid on the Åland archipelago, including a network of around 300–311 kilometres of lines, 18–23 substations or power stations, and interconnections to the Swedish and Finnish mainland grids. It has the system responsibility for electricity in the region, with a daily task to balance local production, imports and consumption and to secure reserve power and preparedness for disturbances.
Kraftnät Åland operates backup generation assets, including gas turbines of 25 MW and 10 MW, and participates in Nordic balancing arrangements, correcting imbalances by trading with Svenska kraftnät, the Swedish TSO. It owns and has developed cross‑border infrastructure such as the 100 MW, ±80 kV HVDC Light subsea “ÅL‑link” between Ytterby on Åland and Naantali on the Finnish mainland, financed in part by a long‑term loan to build a 160‑kilometre subsea cable. Commissioned in 2015, this link enhances security of supply, supports increased integration of renewables, provides a route between Finland and Sweden, enables wind power export and has allowed fossil‑fuelled reserve units to be closed, reducing CO2 emissions.
Within Åland, Kraftnät Åland invests in strengthening and adapting the transmission network for future needs, including new 45 kV connections and substation upgrades and infrastructure to integrate new wind power such as the Långnabba wind farm, expected to cover a significant share of Åland’s electricity demand and increase energy exports. Political agreements on Åland explicitly support the company in exploring roles in distribution, transmission, conversion and storage of forthcoming large‑scale offshore renewable generation.
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