Inkoo coal-fired power plant, the biggest in the Nordic countries, demolished to ground level, Finnish energy company Fortum announced on Wednesday.

"An era of Finland's industrial history ended symbolically with the controlled implosion of the last chimney at Fortum's Inkoo coal-fired power plant on 24 March 2020," the company said in a statement.

Fortum's 1,000-megawatt Inkoo power plant was commissioned during 1974-1978. Back then, it was the biggest coal-fired power plant in the Nordic countries.

Throughout the 2000s, the power plant produced electricity for the Nordic electricity markets, mainly only during peak consumption.

"We made the decision in 2016 to demolish the Inkoo coal-fired power plant, the biggest in the Nordic countries," said Pekka Lundmark, Fortum's President and CEO.

"It was the first large-scale decision in line with our strategy to totally phase out the use of coal in energy production. It's great that the demolition work has now been concluded safely and with an excellent recycling rate," Lundmark said.

"At the beginning of June, Fortum's Meri-Pori coal-fired power plant will transfer completely to the Energy Authority's national peak-load reserve capacity system. From then on, there will be no coal-fired power plants producing only electricity in commercial use in Finland," the statement read.

By Firdevs Yuksel

Anadolu Agency

energy@aa.com.tr