Vestas have won its largest ever wind turbine order in Finland. It will be a 99MW project using the Vestas V126-3.3MW turbines (see picture below) with their “Large Diameter Steel Tower” technology.
The contract was awarded by Finnish developer TuuliWatti Oy, and is one of the biggest ever seen in Finland. It begins with the 73 MW Kalajoki project . Delivery of the turbines will begin in the fourth quarter of 2014, with completion scheduled for third quarter of 2015.
Vestas’ Large Diameter Steel Towers (LDST), allows for taller hub heights and therefore greater annual energy production at relatively low wind speeds. Vestas say that the two V126-3.3 MW turbines can produce up to 20% more power compared to the V112-3.0 MW on a site with average wind speeds of 6.5 m/s. As is common with Vestas, both projects include a VestasOnline® Business SCADA system and a five-year Active Management Output (AOM) 5000 service agreement with options for two additional extensions of five years.
At the end of 2013 wind power capacity in Finland was 447 MW, with 209 wind turbines. Wind power production in 2013 was about 777 GWh which represented just under 10% of the Finnish electricity consumption. Compare this with 2012 and you’ll see the growth: At the end of 2012 there were 257 MW of potential power from 151 wind turbines. Wind power production in 2012 was about 494 GWh which was 0.6 % of the Finnish electricity consumption.
There is much going on in the Finnish wind power sector. It was noted that there were a he high amount of Finnish companies and visitors at European Wind Energy Association Conference in Vienna last year.
It has been said that the single biggest reason for the booming of the Finnish wind power is the feed-in-tariff system that was implemented in spring 2011. The planning of that system begun in 2009, which encouraged the project developers. So far there is only one working offshore turbine in use, but that side of the business is likely to take off too. A change in the feed-in tariff system will be a boon too. Now turbines can be accepted into the system just before the investment decision is done, right after the project has gone through the permitting process and has got a building permit. This will enhance the developers’ and financiers’ trust in the incoming cash-flow. Before this, it was only after the turbines were installed on a wind farm were they eligible to apply for acceptance into the feed-in system.
