Hedet

As of today, the wind farm Hedet in Finland will supply Google-owned engineering service provider Tuike Finland with green electricity. As part the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) signed in 2018, all 81 Megawatt produced by the turbines will be delivered exclusively to the subsidiary of Google LLC. The construction phase of all 18 wind turbines of the wind park was successfully administered by German energy cooperative Prokon and French renewable energy producer Neoen.

With the last turbine erected as early as December 2019, all necessary tests on the 18 Nordex N-149/4.0-4.5 turbines have since been completed and the wind farm is now officially up and running. The wind park owned by Prokon and Neoen is the first of three projects in Finland owned by the duo to enter its production phase.

“Concluding the construction stage for the first of our projects in Finland is a significant step for us“, states Head of Prokon Finland Michael Sandberg. “Having fully operational wind turbines lifts our overall activities in Finland to a new level. It proves that we are able to successfully achieve the ambitious goals we set out to reach.“

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.”

Building permits for 18 wind turbines in Hedet wind farm gained legal force on April 25, 2017.

Hedet project consisting of 18 wind turbines located in the municipalitiy of Närpes has reached an important milestone on December 13, 2016 when the land use plan came into force.