Sweden - Fortum plans wind power investment

Fortum together with the land and forest cooperative Orsa Besparingsskog is planning to build a wind park in the Orsa Finnmark area in the Dalarna province of Sweden. The area is considered to be of national interest due to its favorable wind conditions.

The plan consists of up to eight 2-3 megawatt wind power plants. The park's calculated annual generation equals the annual electricity consumption of 10.000 average households. The investment’s estimated value is EUR 22-33 million depending on its final size. Fortum and Orsa Besparingsskog both have a 50 per cent interest in the project.

Peter Alzar, who is in charge of Fortum’s power generation in the Dalarna province, says that Orsa Finnmark is very suitable for wind power generation. “The natural conditions in the area are almost ideal. Furthermore, there are few permanent residents in the area who might be disturbed by the shadows the wind power plants cast and noise they make.” Beneficial to the park’s planned location is also its close proximity to two Fortum's hydro power plants and thus to the transmission network, so expensive infrastructure investments would not be needed.

”The wind power park we are now planning is part of Fortum’s long-term investment programme through which the company consistently increases its environmentally-benign power generation capacity,” says Göran Hult, who is responsible for Fortum’s power generation in Sweden.

Since 2000, Fortum has invested EUR 7 billion in CO2-free power generation – mainly in hydro and nuclear power that still continue to be important part of the company’s environmentally-benign generation.

“Refurbishment investments in our existing hydro power plants are already significant, but the importance of other renewable energy sources is growing all the time” says Göran Hult. “Building a wind power park in the Orsa Finnmark area is an important step in this direction. We are also interested in utilising other renewables in our power generation and believe to see progress in their use in the coming years.”

A briefing for area residents will be held today. Should the investment proceed as planned, the first wind power plants will be ready for operation in 2009.