Finland's Neova eyes 1.2 GW of wind, solar at peat production sites

Finnish state-owned peat producer Neova today unveiled massive plans for the deployment of wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity at old peat production sites, calling for the construction of plants of more than 1.2 GW in total.

The company said on Tuesday it has selected four sites to install hybrid parks combining wind and solar generation, as well as an additional location for a wind farm with a capacity of between 200 MW and 300 MW and a potential output of 840 GWh per year. Altogether, these projects envisage the construction of wind turbines totalling close to 500 MW, plus solar plants with a combined capacity of 450 MW. The capacity is set to be installed in the municipalities of Pyhanta, Halsua/Kokkola, Kauhajoki, Oulu and Karstula.

Neova expects that first power production from the wind farms could be achieved in 2025.

Separately, the Finnish group intends to build 310 MW of solar parks across six old peat production locations with a total size of some 560 hectares. The individual capacity of the plants will range between 5 MW and 80 MW.

Neova is yet to decide whether it will install the solar plants by itself or with the help of contractors. It also has no clear plans whether it will sell the projects when they become shovel-ready. According to its estimates, the first PV project in the bundle may become ready for construction as early as 2023.

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