Wind

Vattenfall advances first gigascale offshore wind farm near Arctic waters in Finland

Swedish utility conducts geophysical surveys and prepares EIA for up to 2.5GW Korsnäs project that is slated to start construction in the 2030s

Hyötytuuli's Tahkoluoto pilot nearshore wind array in the Bay of Bothnia in icy conditions.
Hyötytuuli's Tahkoluoto pilot nearshore wind array in the Bay of Bothnia in icy conditions.Photo: Hyötytuuli
European Editor, Recharge

Swedish utility Vattenfall is advancing Finland’s first gigascale offshore wind farm with geophysical surveys and an environmental impact assessment (EIA), the 1.3-2.5GW Korsnäs project just 400km south of the Arctic Circle.

The project in territorial waters off the Finnish west coast in the Bay of Bothnia near the city of Vaasa is slated to have an annual electricity production of 5-7TWh, which the company said will help the country reach its ambitious target for carbon neutrality by 2035. Construction is only set to begin in the 2030s, but Vattenfall already is carrying out important steps before that.

“Geophysical surveys are being conducted to study the seabed, which provides critical input to the environmental impact assessment such as archaeological screening, highlighting of ground risks and data subsequent preliminary foundation design. This is a pre-requisite for further development of the offshore wind farm,” said Klaus Nissen, project director at Vattenfall.

“Once completed, [Korsnäs] will produce fossil-free electricity for over two million apartments or 350,000 electrically heated detached houses.”

Finland so far only has the 42MW Tahkoluoto nearshore array at Pori built by wind developer Suomen Hyötytuuli, which plans an up to 900MW extension to the project. It, and Vattenfall’s Korsnäs project earlier this year have been granted seabed leases by the Finnish government.
State-owned forest and seabed management firm Metsähallitus in 2022 had selected Vattenfall in 2022 to build the Korsnäs wind farm with it in a joint venture.
While Vattenfall still has to go through a multi-stage permitting process as soon as the EIA has been submitted, gaining the permit for Korsnäs is believed to be easier due to its link with Metsähallitus, which has already established a project team which focuses on the project and is heavily involved in the permitting process. That process is expected to take 2-4 years, Vattenfall told Recharge.

Finland in its territorial waters is granting seabed leases for offshore wind through an auction, while it has adopted a green field approach in its exclusive economic zone, similar to that used in Sweden, where developers can apply for permits according to a first-come-first-serve principle.

All major offshore wind projects off Finland are off its west coast, in the Bay of Bothnia between the country and Sweden, while Recharge understands that the government for military reasons doesn’t grant any permits in the Gulf of Finland that the country shares with Estonia (to the South) and Russia (to the East).
Sweden recently had shocked the offshore wind industry by blocking some 32GW of offshore wind projects off its central and southern Baltic Sea coast due to military security concerns.

Vattenfall said that the Korsnäs project next to the environment will also impact national defence, border management, air traffic, shipping, and local industries like fishing. The company added it is collaborating with various parties and authorities to mitigate the effects and to secure that all legally required permits and clearances are met.

The utility in September has already signed a letter of intent with the Port of Kaskinen south of Korsnäs to explore the possibilities of using it for logistics during the construction phase, and later for wind turbine maintenance.

(Copyright)

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Published 4 December 2024, 14:52Updated 4 December 2024, 14:52
EuropeFinlandVattenfallMarkets