Ilmatar Gets Aid to Build Finland’s Largest RE Hybrid Park

Finland’s Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment (MEAE) has granted EUR 19.5 million in aid to Helsinki-headquartered Ilmatar Energy Oy for the development of a renewable energy hybrid park in the areas of Alajärvi and Kyyjärvi of considerable size by Finnish and European standards.

The official statement of Ilmatar has held that the hybrid energy project will generate wind and solar power and also have a high energy storage capacity.

Ilmatar said that it is already well into the process of building a large-scale wind farm in Alajärvi. The farm will comprise 36 wind turbines with a total a capacity of 216 MW. The new project that was granted aid will add a new industrial scale solar farm in the immediate vicinity of the wind farm having a capacity of 150 MWp. The company will also develop a 50 MWh battery storage offering flexibility to the project.

The two farms will form the largest renewable energy hybrid park in Finland. Ilmatar said that the total budget of the solar and battery farm projects is EUR 97.8 million. The Alajärvi wind farm will be built under market conditions without subsidies with an investment of EUR 217 million.

Juha Sarsama, CEO, Ilmatar, said that the MEAE aid will allows Ilmatar to carry out the project swiftly in one go and on a large scale. He added that the hybrid park project will make use of the electrical infrastructure built for wind power in the park area. Solar power and wind power also directly balance each other – strong winds often occur when the sun doesn’t shine, while the air is often still during sunny weather, Sarsama said.

In total, the wind and solar farms of Alajärvi and Kyyjärvi will have a capacity of 366 MW, which will cover the electricity needs of 370,000 two-room apartments in Finland. Batteries will provide the park with 25 megawatts of flexible capacity. The park will be one of the largest sources of renewable energy in Northern Europe.

Ilmatar mentioned that the RE project will implement a set of flexible and smart energy systems, allowing energy to be stored for periods of low energy generation. Storage balances the variation in the output of renewable energy and improves cooperation with the owner of the transmission network. The project planning phase will be launched at the beginning of 2023.