The problem seems to be heat quality - they don’t get electricity back, it’s only good for heating. (Which admittedly makes perfect sense in the winter near the North Pole.)

The issue we have in Finland is the assymetric electricity usage between winter and summer. This is driven by the need for heating.

In the past, district heating systems burned coal. Now that's out the window we haven't got enough to burn. We do burn waste products from forestry, trash and the like but there's not enough to go around before you start felling trees en-mass just to heat a city.

A lot of municipalities in Finland are now starting to play with thermal storage. There's this sand battery, but there's even more hot water storage being built and has been built.

In the medium term, winter electricity production and consumption is starting to become a bit of a risk for us.

> near the North Pole.

Finland is not near the North Pole. Lahti is at 61°, right in the middle between Greece and the North Pole.

But yes, heating needs are higher than in most European or North American populated areas.