Finnish region planning 6 GW offshore wind Power-to-X project

The Finnish government has submitted its National Recovery Plan to the European Commission, allocating € 318.7 million to support clean energy and energy infrastructure developments, including a 6 GW offshore wind farm that will incorporate a Power-to-X solution.

Finland plans to support offshore wind and other new energy technologies with € 161 million, and the development of its energy transmission and distribution infrastructure with € 155 million.

The remaining € 2.7 million are planned to back a giant offshore wind energy project in the Åland archipelago which includes a 6 GW offshore wind farm and a Power-to-X solution, possibly green hydrogen production.

The Åland Maritime Spatial Plan has defined an area of approximately 1,000 square kilometres for the project, whose development will be led by the Åland government.

The government has already commissioned a roadmap on opportunities for offshore wind construction and growing electricity generation from Lappeenranta University of Technology, which will be completed in June 2021.

Furthermore, the Åland government is preparing to commission the necessary preliminary studies such as seabed surveys and measurements of wind conditions.

The planning and preparation phase of the massive project is expected to continue until 2024, with the entire development estimated to take 10-15 years to build.

The work on the preparation and planning phase will be funded by the funds from the Finnish National Recovery Plan.

The energy produced by the 6 GW offshore wind and green hydrogen project at archipelago will be transferred to mainland Finland and Sweden, for which further investments will be needed to build new infrastructure including electricity cables and pipelines.