wpd Set to Invest into Finland’s Offshore Wind Power

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.

[mappress]

Source: wpd, September 05, 2011