International wind developer wpd has applied for a water permit regarding the Suurhiekka project, located in the North Golf of Bothnia. With a capacity of 400 MW the project is Finland’s first offshore windfarm of this size and would provide 350 000 households with clean electricity. The construction phase is expected to start in 2013.

After having signed an exclusive lease agreement for the area in 2007, wpd now reached the project’s next major milestone. The Water permit now filed is a precondition for construction and includes an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process was completed at the end of August after two years of intensive site investigations. Wind measurements for the wind farm were started in September. “These all are very important milestones for us as we are working hard to achieve our goal: to build 1000 MW wind power in Finland by 2020. In a few years the Suurhiekka project puts us 400MW closer” says Esa Holttinen, the Managing Director of wpd Finland Oy.

“We believe Finland has a great potential in offshore and we believe in this future market. We hope that the new onshore feed-in tariff is just the starting point for a discussion about the necessary economic framework for offshore in Finland. Offshore will be needed to reach EU 2020 targets and is a major chance for the Finnish industry” says Achim Berge, Managing Director of wpd offshore GmbH.

For more information, please contact:

Esa Holttinen, Managing Director of wpd Finland Oy, +358 40 506 3632, e.holttinen@wpd.fiAchim Berge, Managing Director of wpd Offshore GmbH, +468 8 5010 9151, a.berge@wpd.se