Finland Drives Expansion of Wind Energy - Vsb Commissions 148 Mw Wind Farm
Oulu, Finland - Finland has great wind energy potential on land and at sea. The Finnish Renewable Energy Association expects an installed wind power capacity of around 10,000 MW by 2025. The VSB Group, based in Dresden, has now connected another large wind farm to the grid.
VSB builds Karahka wind farm with Nordex wind turbines
The 148 MW Karahka wind farm covers an area of around 2,300 hectares. VSB Finland started construction of the 25 turbines in 2022 and sold the project to the Finnish energy supplier Helen (51%) and Bank of Åland's wind energy investment fund (49%) in the same year. VSB subsequently continued to be responsible for the construction and commissioning of the wind farm.
Dr. Felix Grolman, CEO of VSB Group, comments: “With the commissioning of Karahka, VSB demonstrates its comprehensive expertise – from project development and approval to construction. This impressive team achievement underlines our position as a reliable partner in the energy transition. We look forward to our next major projects in Finland, which are already in preparation.”
About wind energy in Finland
At the end of 2023, wind turbines with a capacity of almost 7,000 MW were in operation in Finland. As of December 19, 2024, Finnish wind power capacity had already climbed to 8,200 MW, according to the Suomen uusiutuvat ry (Finnish Renewables Association).
“Currently, onshore wind power is the fastest and most cost-effective way to build additional clean electricity generation, which is essential for other green transition investments, whether it’s data centers, aluminum plants, or hydrogen-based products,” says Anni Mikkonen, CEO of the Finnish Renewables Association.
On November 23, 2023, the government passed a resolution to launch an auction process for offshore wind power sites in Finnish public waters. The offshore wind power sites to be auctioned are located in public water areas managed by the Finnish forestry company Metsähallitus in the regions of Ostrobothnia and Northern Ostrobothnia.
At the beginning of December 2024, Vattenfall and Metsähallitus announced that Finland's first large offshore wind farm is to be built via a joint venture. The planned Korsnäs offshore wind farm will be located near Vaasa in Finland. The installed offshore wind power capacity of 1.3 - 2.5 GW (1,300 to 2,500 MW) will result in an expected electricity production of 5 - 7 TWh (billion kWh). Construction is scheduled to begin in the 2030s.
Source: IWR Online, Dec 12 2024