16 turbines of 5.5MW capacity will be installed by GE Renewables on the Puskakorpi onshore wind farm by early next year; the wind farm has the potential to power 55,000 Finnish households
A view of GE Renewables wind turbines based on its Cypress platform, Credit: GE Renewable Energy website
GE Renewables is set to supply 16 turbines based on its Cypress platform for an 88MW onshore wind plant located in in the Northern Ostrobothnia region of western Finland. The 5.5 MW-158 turbines come with a 30-year service agreement to be fulfilled by GE Renewables. The turbines will start being installed early next year, and the developers of the wind farm expect operations to begin later in the same year.
Known as the Puskakorpi wind farm, the project is a collaborative effort of Smart Windpower, Mincovest and GE Renewable Energy. Later the wind farm was acquired by Foresight Energy Infrastructure Partners (FEIP), a Luxembourg special limited partnership for which Foresight Group acts as portfolio manager. The project is Foresight’s first onshore wind investment in Finland and first partnership with GE’s onshore wind technology. Key aspects of the onshore wind farm’s construction are being serviced by Suvic, a civil and electrical plant contractor and Ramboll, the project’s construction manager. Both firms have long experience with industrial projects in the Finnish economy.
The wind farm will be located in the Finnish municipality of Pyhäjoki and is expected to generate energy enough to power 55,000 households in the vicinity. The wind farm will be a source of significant support to Finland’s target of sourcing half of its entire energy consumption from renewable sources by the end of this decade.
GE Financial Services supported raising of debt funds and sourcing investors to acquire the project. Equity and debt – primarily from Société Générale, a French multinational financial services company – has been successfully sourced and the project has been given official notice to begin construction.
Foresight Group partner Richard Thompson said: “This investment is our first in Finland and underlines our appetite for energy infrastructure projects that contribute to the transition to a low carbon economy across Europe.”
Société Générale Co-Head of EMEA Power Advisory & Project Finance, Jérôme Deflesselles said: ” Société Générale is a long-standing player in renewable energy both in financing and advisory and this new transaction will contribute to our commitment to mobilize up to €20bn for the renewables sector by 2023. The emergence of corporate PPA based deals in Europe is supported by SSociété Générale, who is active in many jurisdictions to design offtakers acceptable frameworks with our clients.”
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