186. Power under Pressure: Fortum’s CEO on Datacenters’ growth and Russian Attacks (Eurelectric)

Laurent had the pleasure and privilege of sitting down with Markus Rauramo, CEO of Fortum, during the Eurelectric “Power Play” conference in Brussels this June.

Fortum, the Finnish energy company also active in Sweden and Poland, finds itself right on the front line when it comes to tensions with Russia—not exactly your average utility boardroom drama. The conversation kicks off with Markus’s recent election as President of Eurelectric, taking over from none other than Leo “the Great” Birnbaum, CEO of E.ON.

We talk about the challenges Markus has faced so far, including how Fortum managed to steer through the stormy waters of the Ukraine war, and what’s ahead for the industry. Spoiler: it’s not all doom and gloom—there’s strategy, resilience, and some surprisingly good teamwork. Markus rolls out Eurelectric’s Manifesto centred on customers, security of supply and digitisation (AI).

Markus introduces his vice-presidential duo: Georgios Stassis (CEO of PPC) and Catherine MacGregor (CEO of Engie). According to him, it’s a well-balanced trio—think energy world’s version of the Avengers, but with spreadsheets and grid stability. He also gives kudos to Kristian Ruby, Secretary General of Eurelectric, and the Brussels team for their stellar behind-the-scenes work.

The chat then shifts to the Baltics, one of the rare places in Europe where electricity demand is actually growing. Fortum’s been ahead of the game there too: Markus reveals they now have over 1.3 GW of capacity lined up and ready to power new datacenters.

Of course, we couldn’t ignore the constant cyber-attacks and sabotage attempts coming from Russia. Markus shares how Fortum has learned to deal with them—let’s just say they don’t flinch easily anymore.

And finally, a public mea culpa: Laurent repeatedly referred to Finland as part of Scandinavia. A common slip-up. For the record: Finland is next to Scandinavia, but it’s not in it. The Finns are Nordic, not Scandinavian—but much like their neighbours to the west, they handled the mix-up with trademark cool. No sauna ban issued.

We thank Kristian Ruby and all the Eurelectric team for organising this recording and putting together such a great summit.