The Finnish Wind Power Association (STY) reports that Finland will reach the milestone of 1,000 installed wind turbines with a total capacity of 5,000 MW in 2022. Over time, offshore wind turbines will also begin to enter the Finnish market.
By 2025, wind energy will account for more than a quarter of the electricity consumed in Finland. Less than a decade ago, wind energy accounted for less than 1 percent of the electricity consumed in Finland, today it accounts for about 10 percent and by 2025 it will account for at least 27 percent.
The industry organization argues that climate policies and energy independence require a higher rate of growth, as organizations like GWEC point out in reports.
“Germany and Finland are relatively similar in terms of area. Germany has more than 80 million inhabitants and about 30,000 wind turbines. In terms of population density and number of wind turbines, Finland has a huge potential for wind energy development, if you add exploitable offshore areas. Germany continues to build more onshore wind farms – last year it was the second largest in Europe, comments Heidi Paalatie, Chief Operating Officer of the Finnish Wind Power Association.
FWPA reports that Finland will invest more than €6 billion in wind energy between 2022 and 2025. The industry organization points out that in Finland, the energy transition and wind power construction process could be accelerated by allocating additional resources to the administrative courts and the Supreme Administrative Court to handle appeals against wind projects and by recognizing environmental transition projects as large infrastructure projects, which would speed up the handling of appeals, the position statement reads.
The Finnish Wind Power Association (STY) is a lobbying organization for wind energy, bringing together individuals, companies and other stakeholders in the wind energy sector. The association has over 140 corporate members and approximately 200 individual members.
Finland is developing the Korsnäs offshore wind farm project. Environmental surveys are currently underway. The plan of the state company Metsähallitus is to install 70-100 turbines with a nominal capacity of 12-20 MW. Construction of the farm will be completed approx. 2030. Finland is also considering leasing offshore areas for an additional 2-4 wind farm projects on the country’s west coast.
Suomen Hyötytuuli Oy has built Finland’s first offshore wind farm designed to operate in harsh winter conditions in Tahkoluoto. The wind farm has been producing power since the fall of 2017.
