Neoen and Prokon have provided notice to proceed to Vestas, signalling the start of the construction of their jointly owned Storbötet and Lumivaara wind farms in Finland – projects that are underpinned by 10-year power purchase agreements with digital infrastructure company, Equinix.
The Storbötet wind farm is located in the municipality of Uusikaarlepyy, in the region of Ostrobothnia, and will comprise 17 Vestas wind turbines with a total capacity of 105.4 megawatts (MW). Meanwhile, the Lumivaara wind farm is located in the municipality of Hyrynsalmi, in the region of Kainuu. It will comprise nine Vestas wind turbines, with a total capacity of 55.8 MW.
The PPAs cover 60 per cent of the green energy and guarantees of origin to be produced by Storbötet and 80 per cent of those produced by Lumivaara. They are the second and third PPAs Neoen and Prokon have signed with Equinix, preceded by the Björkliden wind PPA. The Storbötet and Lumivaara wind farms are designed to deliver competitively priced electricity, while contributing to Equinix’s global commitment to become climate-neutral by 2030.
Neoen owns an 80 per cent stake in each project, the remaining 20 per cent being owned by Prokon, which co-developed these two projects with Neoen. Alongside the Mutkalampi (404 MW), Hedet (81 MW) and Björkliden (40.4 MW) wind farms, and Yllikkälä Power Reserve (30 MW/30 MWh), Storbötet and Lumivaara reinforce Neoen’s status as one of the country’s leading and fastest growing renewable energy producers, with over 700 MW in operation or under construction and nine PPAs signed in Finland.
“I would like to thank the Neoen and Prokon teams for their successful cooperation over the last few years. We are delighted to be working with Vestas once again and with Equinix, with whom we have signed three PPAs – building on the foundations of existing relationships is a powerful way to boost our growth,” said Xavier Barbaro, CEO and chairman of Neoen. “We are extremely proud of these first 700 MW in Finland, and we plan to accelerate our presence in the country, as we see great potential for Neoen over both the short and long term.”
“I would like to thank the landowners, the municipalities and all other local stakeholders for their support in making these two projects a reality. With five wind farms and a battery to date, Neoen has the ambition to become the leader in renewable energy in Finland and will continue actively contributing to our country’s energy transition and to its target of carbon neutrality by 2035,” said Jerri Loikkanen, managing director of Neoen Finland.
Henning von Stechow, CEO of Prokon Regenerative Energien eG, the German parent company of Prokon Wind Energy Finland Oy, added: “The realisation of another two joint projects with Neoen demonstrates that we can tackle climate change together. Working with our client Equinix, we are once again proving that PPAs are a viable way of delivering highly competitive green energy projects without government subsidies.”
