Metsähallitus and Swedish energy giant Vattenfall have agreed to expand the capacity of the Korsnas offshore wind farm from 1.3GW to 2GW. The wind farm will begin operations in the 2030s.
It will generate 5TWh of clean energy annually, sufficient to power two million Finnish households. The developers estimate that the wind farm can be developed with an investment of between €2bn ($2.18bn) and €3bn.
Vattenfall joined the project as a partner in December 2022, when it won an extensive international tendering process.
The developers are preparing a new regional plan for the wind farm and will update the draft plan with an updated location and size.
The updated plan will include an additional area of 5,400 hectares (ha), bringing the full size of the project to 27,400ha.
At the time the tender was secured, an option to increase its original capacity was agreed upon, which cannot be tendered as an independent location.
The partners have now agreed to use this option and to develop the original area and the additional area as one whole.
They will submit an updated planning initiative to the municipality of Korsnäs. Environmental impact assessment and land use planning are expected to be conducted together, and commercial terms remain the same.
Metsähallitus confirmed that its position in the project will remain as before and that no changes with respect to the schedules have been made from the original contracts.