Ilmatar Energy Oy is to construct its first solar park when an industrial-scale PV power plant is built in Joroinen, Finland.
Jorois will provide Finnish renewable energy from early 2023 onwards.
The investment decision will speed up Ilmatar’s journey towards the leading renewable energy company in the Nordic countries, it said.
Joroinen Park has a capacity of 5MWp.
Ilmatar is responsible for financing the Joroinen project together with Business Finland, whose investment support amounts to 20% of the total finance.
Ilmatar chief executive Juha Sarsama said: “Solar power is an important new element in Ilmatar’s strategy, as it brings flexibility to our electricity production.
“Our goal is to be the market leader in this form of production as well.
“I am also delighted with the natural way in which our organisation and partners in decision-making and landowners have received the new form of energy production as their own.”
Ilmatar has several parks in Finland and Sweden in the size range of 50-250 MWp.
Some of the projects will be built in connection with wind farms.
Ilmatar development director Antti Keskinen said: “Our solar power team has worked and will work hard in both Finland and Sweden, where there is a huge potential for solar power.
“The clear advantage of solar power is its lightweight structure and fast scalability, as well as many synergies with our wind power production.”
“Over the years, we have accumulated a huge amount of expertise in the successful implementation of large projects involving huge infrastructure entities with wind power.
“For this reason, as a Finnish company, we have very good local knowledge around the country and the ability to bring industrial-scale solar power to the market together with local interest groups.
“We also believe in industrial-scale energy production in terms of solar power, and as we have already learned in wind power construction, that it also brings us responsibilities in terms of the environment and nature.
“Our motto is to make solar power on environmental terms.
“This guides everything we do in the implementation of solar parks from the beginning of the design and continues during lifecycle maintenance.”
Keskinen added that Ilmatar wanted to revitalise areas that have left or are leaving other business activities by harnessing the areas for renewable energy production.
These may include, for example, an abandoned peat production area, a poorly producing field or other wasteland that would otherwise have no land-use value.