Finland can play role in India’s Smart Cities mission, says minister

Smart grids, smart cities and clean water are among the areas where Finland’s know-how converges with India’s needs, Finnish minister for energy and environment Kimmo Tiilikainen said on Wednesday.

The minister, who was in India with a business delegation for a four-day visit, said every Finnish household has a smart meter and the country’s power grids are among the most efficient in the world.

“We experience an electricity loss of only 3%, among the lowest in the world,” Tiilikainen said.

India’s ambitious Smart Cities programme too is complementary to the expertise of Finnish companies. In Finland, he said, utilities not only clean wastewater efficiently but also remove nutrients from the waste and use them for other purposes.

Asked what is unique about Finnish capabilities in these areas, Tiilikainen said they can “manage the whole system...we don’t simply solve one problem and move on”. He said it was “typically Finnish to make all the parts work together”.

Already, a Finnish firm and its Indian partner are setting up charging systems for electrical vehicles. Another firm is offering a means to wash coal -- a problem in India which has high ash coal – use the residue for fuel and use the ash for construction material.

Asked about the experience of Nokia’s cellphone factory, the largest Finnish investment in India that was shut down by tax authorities, Tiilikainen said: “It is not wise to talk about a single investment.”

He noted Finnish success stories in India – Kone, an escalator and elevator maker, is now the market leader in the country while Valmet provides automation technology for 60% of India’s power plants.