Portfolio Expansion Continues: Energiequelle Completes Fifth Wind Farm in Finland

Helsinki, Finland - The expansion of wind energy continues to make rapid progress in Finland. In this dynamically growing market, Energiequelle has now completed construction work on the Finnish wind farm Lumivaara in the municipality of Hyrynsalmi in eastern Finland and commissioned the turbines.

Eight Nordex N163 turbines with a total capacity of 45.6 MW have been installed at the Energiequelle wind farm, which will supply wind power for around 29,000 households per year. Like Energiequelle's other wind farms in Finland, the wind farm in Eastern Finland was built without state support.

The Lumivaara wind farm was acquired by the Klima Vest-Impact fund. This fund enables private investors to invest in renewable energies and projects that demonstrably contribute to the reduction of CO₂ emissions. Commerz Real, a subsidiary of Commerzbank, advised Klima Vest on the investment and managed the acquisition process of the wind farm. Commerz Real currently manages more than 50 solar power plants and more than 40 wind farms in Germany and Europe with a total nominal capacity of around 1,500 MW via the banking group's investment funds.

"We are proud to have completed the company's fifth wind farm in Finland, which is also our first project in Eastern Finland. Energiequelle has good prospects for the future in Finland, as we have a strong and diverse pipeline of renewable energy projects", says Nils Borstelmann, Managing Director of Energiequelle Oy, the Finnish subsidiary of Energiequelle GmbH.

With over 550 employees and a total installed capacity of around 1,700 MW, Energiequelle is a leading company in the industry. In addition to its headquarters in Kallinchen, Energiequelle has numerous other locations in Germany as well as branches in France, Finland and Poland.

The status of wind energy market in Finland

At the end of 2023, 1,601 wind turbines with a total capacity of 6,946 megawatts (MW) were installed in Finland. The addition of 1,280 MW in 2023 was the second-highest figure in Finland's history to date, after the exceptional year of 2022 with 2,430 MW. The Finnish Wind Energy Association expects around 450 MW of wind power capacity to be added in 2024, while a further 2,000 MW of new wind power capacity is already known for 2025. If the projects are realised as planned, wind energy capacity in Finland could therefore increase to a total of almost 10,000 MW by 2025.

Source: IWR Online, 27 Mar 2024