A signed connection agreement does not guarantee build-out or full-scale operation, Fingrid said on 18 August, in the same release that put Finnish data-centre projects holding signed agreements at nearly 5 GW of planned final combined capacity by mid-August, distribution-network projects included1. Fingrid runs Finland's transmission grid, the high-voltage network that carries power between regions before it reaches local distribution companies.
A connection agreement is a contract for capacity at a future date rather than a working connection. Finland's operator added that capacity from its ongoing grid investments was already almost fully reserved in many areas. Those reservations hold grid capacity whether or not the buildings behind them go up, so the 5 GW measures intent that has reached contract stage and nothing further.
Ofgem answered the same problem with a price in Great Britain in late July. Fingrid answered it with a caveat, which tells a reader the queue is softer than its total suggests and leaves every reservation exactly where it stood. Neither device shortens a queue, and both are admissions that a grid operator cannot tell, from its own register, how much of the signed capacity will turn into load.
