ABSTRACT
The development of the peat industry in Finland illustrates one of the ways a new energy industry can emerge and grow. Finnish energy policy concentrated mainly on trying to raise the level of self-sufficiency and supporting various measures for saving energy. Long-term contracts for the import of electricity and natural gas from the Soviet Union were drafted towards the end of the 1960. Key driving factors have been entrepreneurial drive of important actors in the existing system structure and system imbalances such as unemployment, declining energy self-sufficiency, and readily available unexploited peat. Peat was included in VAPO’s product range from the beginning, being used among other things as engine fuel. Boilers running on waste wood and bark could be adapted to run on peat with only slight adjustments; the peat was mainly purchased from private peat suppliers in the local area.
