The newly elected government of Finland has recently decided to promote offshore wind power. The wpd Group management team is meeting today with several Finnish ministers and state secretaries to discuss the Suurhiekka offshore wind farm which is currently in the pipeline and set to be realised in the coming years.

Dr. Gernot Blanke, CEO of wpd AG, together with other wpd management team members will meet today with several ministers and state secretaries in Finland to discuss the Suurhiekka offshore wind project. “The policy of the new Government of Finland has been great news for us. We continue to develop the Suurhiekka offshore wind farm and it’s our target to start the construction in 2014”, says Dr. Gernot Blanke.

The Suurhiekka offshore wind farm is the first full-scale offshore wind project in Finland that has been granted the necessary water permit essential in order for the project to be realised. The project consists of 80 turbines and is located in the Gulf of Bothnia. Since 2007 wpd has been driving the development of this pioneering project.

The realization of the Suurhiekka wind farm would provide a great foundation for other offshore wind power construction projects in Finland. The Managing Director of wpd Finland Oy, Mr. Esa Holttinen, says: ”Finland has high-level expertise in offshore wind power. The Suurhiekka project offers a unique opportunity to combine this expertise together with wpd’s experience of developing and constructing offshore wind power.”

The wpd Group has already achieved an output of more than 2000 MW of onshore wind power and is developing 16 offshore wind projects around Europe. Last year wpd were behind the construction of Germany’s first commercial offshore wind farm, Baltic 1. The next offshore project in the company’s pipeline, Butendiek, will consist of 80 turbines that will be built in 2013. All supply contracts for Butendiek Offshore Wind Farm have been secured recently.

More Information:

Achim Berge, Managing Director, wpd offshore GmbH
tel +46 73 600 31 70, a.berge (et) wpd.se

Esa Holttinen, Managing Director, wpd Finland Oy
tel +358 40 506 3632, e.holttinen (et) wpd.fi www.wpd.de > Wind Offshore > Project Development > Finland

Suurhiekka
Suurhiekka offshore wind farm owned by wpd Finland Oy’s sister company Suurhiekka Offshore Oy would be built in the shallows of Suurhiekka, located about 25 km from the coast of Ii, in the Gulf of Bothnia. The project includes 80 wind turbines, 1¬–2 sea transform stations and sea cables. It also includes the construction of a about 15 km long 400 kV over head line to connect the wind farm to the national grid. The wind farm is estimated to produce up to 1500 GWh of electricity per year which equals to the yearly consumption of about 300 000 non-electrically heated households.

wpd
wpd Finland Oy with headquarters in Espoo, is a subsidiary within wpd group a worldwide developer and operator of wind farms. In total, the company has carried out projects with around 1,400 turbines and an output of more than 2,1 GW. Currently wpd is planning projects with 7,000 MW in total. Moreover, the group is Europe’s leading offshore developer with a pipeline of 10,000 MW. One of the first commercial offshore wind plants Baltic 1, attended by wpd, has been built last year. wpd develops offshore projects in Germany, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, France and Italy. More information about wpd visit www.wpd.fi