In the exciting and promising Finnish market for renewable energies, reconcept has been active as an investor and project developer for wind farms since 2013.
Through the joint venture Tuulialfa Oy, reconcept has excellent access to the market. The experienced wind farm specialist has an extensive project pipeline for wind power plants at 10 locations in Northern and Central Finland. This corresponds to a planned nominal capacity of approx. 1,800 MW, for which reconcept has a contractually secured right of first refusal.
Finland wants to become the first industrial nation free of fossil fuels. By 2035, the country is to be climate-neutral. In addition to nuclear power and the forest as a resource, the expansion of renewable energies plays an important role in electricity supply. Especially in the area of wind energy, there is a high potential for expansion. The demand for wind power is growing, and at the same time, strong winds prevail in the sparsely populated country.
Finland has consistently high wind speeds, especially along its approximately 1,100 kilometre coastline. The country is also very sparsely populated with only 5.5 million inhabitants in an area the size of Germany. These are ideal conditions for the installation of wind turbines. With currently 10 per cent or about 7.8 terawatt hours (TWh), the share of wind power in the total electricity supply in Finland remains comparatively low (Germany: around 27 per cent). However, wind energy in Finland is getting an enormous boost, partly from the state.
Finland has the potential to significantly increase its wind power capacity. The wind power industry's goal is to reach at least 30 TWh of annual wind power production in Finland by 2030, which is approximately 30 per cent of Finland's current electricity consumption.
According to the Finnish Wind Energy Association, there are currently 32 wind turbines with a total capacity of 2,435 MW already under construction and a total of 240 projects with more than 18,500 MW onshore alone are in the planning stage (as of February 2021).
The Finnish government is also pushing ahead with the further expansion of wind energy. Sanna Marin, the state-owned company Metsähallitus 2020 was commissioned to offer more land for wind energy projects.
Since 2018, more and more of Finland's first subsidy-free wind energy projects have been plannedin Finland. So-called Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs), i.e. long-term electricity supply and purchase contracts, now determine the the electricity market in Finland today. PPAs offer both contracting parties – suppliers and buyers – a high degree of stability and predictability. Currently, the most interested parties are energy-intensive industries, of which there are many in the north of Finland, as well as large international companies. For example, Google is investing in three new wind farms in Finland with a total capacity of 190 megawatts as a PPA project. The Finnish Wind Energy Association also expects growing interest from medium-sized electricity consumers
