Prokon and Neoen: Deal with Google to provide renewable energy from wind farm in Finland

Prokon Finland, a subsidiary of Prokon Regenerative Energien eG, the largest renewable energy cooperative in Germany and Neoen, the leading independent producer of exclusively renewable energy in France, have signed a power purchase agreement with Google, to provide the U.S. based technology company with green electricity.

Google is to purchase all the electricity produced by the 81 MW Hedet wind farm in Finland, owned by Neoen (80%) and Prokon (20%).

Hedet is located near Övermark village in Närpes, western Finland. The project was initiated by Prokon in 2012. Neoen joined in 2017. The construction of the wind farm is expected to begin by the end of 2018 and be ready for production by the end of 2019. Hedet consists of 18 turbines with a combined capacity of 81 MW.

The wind farm is Prokon’s biggest project in Finland so far. Prokon has a project pipeline of another 400 MW in Finland. Hedet is Neoen’s first project in Finland, with more projects to follow. The Finnish government is an avid supporter of renewable energy and the country has excellent natural resources for wind power.

Henning von Stechow, Board member of Prokon: “Power purchase agreements, under which a company purchases electricity directly from an independent producer, is a growing trend. They create mutual benefits for all parties involved and are an increasingly viable option to public subsidies. As a large renewable energy cooperative with significant business activities in Germany, Poland and Finland, Prokon has been exploring this alternative for a while. We are delighted to enter into our first agreement of this kind with Google jointly with our partner Neon, and we hope to secure more such agreements in the future.”

Xavier Barbaro, CEO of Neoen: “We are delighted that Google has chosen to work with us. Supplying a leading multinational company with green electricity in a country like Finland, that supports the growth of renewable energy, is completely in line with our strategy and capabilities. Once again, we demonstrate our ability to keep on growing and broadening our horizons thanks to competitive assets, our company’s solid foundations and our long-term outlook for our operations. We are widening our customer base, supplying nation states and public authorities, and increasingly large companies. By producing the most competitive priced renewable energy locally, sustainably and on a large scale, we are proud to have made Neoen a world leader in energy transition and to be able to call Google a customer.”