Metsähallitus and Vattenfall have agreed to expand the Korsnäs Offshore Wind Farm project so that the new project area will allow for an increased capacity.

Vattenfall became a Metsähallitus project partner for the Korsnäs Offshore Wind Farm project in December 2022 when it won an extensive international tendering process. In connection with the transaction, a possible additional area was agreed on, which cannot be tendered as an independent location. The parties have now agreed to use this optional area.

A new regional plan is being prepared for the region of Ostrobothnia where the wind farm will be located. In the draft of this plan, the location and size of the Korsnäs project area have been updated according to the latest information. The new draft also includes the additional area in Korsnäs mentioned above, sized 5,400 hectares. The full size of the Korsnäs project area is 27,400 hectares.

The inclusion of the additional area will allow the project capacity of Korsnäs to be increased from planned 1,300 MW towards 2,000 MW. In the future, Metsähallitus and Vattenfall will develop the original area and the additional area as a whole, and they will submit an updated planning initiative to the Municipality of Korsnäs as soon as possible. Environmental impact assessment and land use planning are also carried out together.

The commercial terms have remained the same and correspond to the tender submitted by Vattenfall to the Korsnäs tendering process and the original Korsnäs contract package signed in December 2022. Similarly, Metsähallitus’ position in the project remains as strong as before, and no changes are made to the schedules of the original contracts.

Metsähallitus leases state-owned territorial waters to offshore wind power in accordance with the tendering model approved by the Finnish Government. Metsähallitus is responsible for the area selection, initial project development and organisation of competitive tendering. The tendering process for two new areas is about to start before the end of this year.

Source: Metsähallitus