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Finland Wind Power Boom Sees 140,000 MW of Connection Requests

Finland Wind Power Boom Sees 140,000 MW of Connection Requests

The frenzy to build wind power in Finland is gathering speed like never before. 

More than 140,000 megawatts worth of connection requests for more than 1,000 projects have been made, according to grid operator Fingrid Oyj. In April, the inquiries totaled about 90,000 megawatts.

In the end, only a fraction of that will eventually be installed, but it shows the intent of investors to capitalize on stricter pollution rules and the unprecedented interest in renewable energy. Wind power capacity could rise to 14,000 megawatts by the end of the decade, according to Fingrid projections published Monday.

How much can actually be built depends on consumption, Senior Vice President Jussi Jyrinsalo said on Tuesday. “Without demand growth, wind power will cannibalize itself,” but “with consumption growth, a large number could be realized,” he said.

At the end of 2020, Finland’s wind power capacity was just under 2,600 megawatts, and its annual output was 7.8 terawatt-hours, roughly 10% of the Nordic country’s electricity generation. 

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.