Fortum has made the investment decision to start the construction of the 90-megawatt (MW) Kalax wind park in Närpes, Finland. The project consists of 21 wind turbines with a total capacity of 90.3 MW and an annual production of more than 0.3 terawatt hours. Fortum has signed an agreement with Vestas for the turbine supply and operation and maintenance of the park.

The Kalax wind park will be Fortum’s first large scale wind park in Finland and was chosen to the Finnish national renewables scheme in March 2019. The capital expenditure of the project is approximately EUR 90 million. Construction will start this summer with civil works and the wind park is expected to be fully operational at the latest in the first quarter of 2021.

“We are extremely pleased to announce the start of construction of our first large scale wind park in Finland. This is a major step in implementing our Nordic wind strategy,” says Joonas Rauramo, Vice President Wind Generation at Fortum.

“We acquired the project rights in 2017 and have since then developed the project further in close co-operation with local stakeholders. The investment decision was a major milestone and the co-operation will now continue with the focus on successfully commissioning the wind park on time and budget,” says Mikko Iso-Tryykäri, Head of Project Development.

Based on its strategy, Fortum will continue to build on its long-standing expertise to grow in CO2-free power generation. In solar and wind, the ambition is to increase the solar and wind portfolio to a multi-gigawatt scale. Fortum's business model in renewables consists of development, construction, and asset management of solar and wind assets. Fortum utilises partnerships and other forms of co-operation to maintain a more asset-light structure.