ABO Wind realises 86-megawatt wind farm independently

The Finnish wind farm Pajuperänkangas is scheduled to be connected to the grid in summer 2023. With an output of 86.8 megawatts, it is the largest project to date in which ABO Wind covers the complete value creation of planning and turnkey construction.

Last year, the Wiesbaden-based company connected the Välikangas wind farm in Finland to the grid, the first 100-megawatt wind farm in the company's history. The commissioning of the second 100-megawatt wind farm in Cuevas de Velasco, Spain, will be starting soon. Unlike Pajuperänkangas, these two wind farms were already sold during the planning phase. "Afterwards, we handled the further progress of the project and the construction as a service provider," explains ABO Wind Managing Director Andreas Höllinger "This means that our entrepreneurial risk, our financial commitment and thus our participation in the success were significantly smaller."

Meanwhile, thanks to capital increases and the issue of a subordinated loan, among other things, ABO Wind is in a much stronger financial position than it was two years ago. "Therefore, we now also have the confidence to independently realise larger projects," says Höllinger. "In addition, we have gained important experience in the implementation of large-scale projects in our role as a service provider with Välikangas and Cuevas de Velasco. Therefore, we are looking forward to now bearing the full risk for the first time in a project of this magnitude with Pajuperänkangas and thus increasing our share in the value creation accordingly. We are confident that many more wind and solar parks as well as storage projects of these dimensions will follow in the next few years, which we will implement on a turnkey basis."

The fact that ABO Wind is realising its first completely independently implemented large-scale project in Finland is no coincidence. The Wiesbaden-based company has been successfully developing projects there since 2013. Last year, three wind farms with a total output of around 163 megawatts were commissioned. The 38 Vestas turbines of the Välikangas, Sievi and Pihtipudas wind farms will in future supply as much clean electricity as around 160,000 households consume. In addition, ABO Wind will take over the operational management of the turbines in the future. "In Finland we have at this point already connected wind farms with more than 500 megawatts to the grid or sold them ready for construction," says Höllinger. This makes ABO Wind one of the most important project developers in the country. The Pajuperänkangas wind farm planned for 2023 will bring ABO Wind another superlative: "With a total height of 250 metres, the V162 turbines will be the largest turbines we have ever built," says Höllinger.