Construction of the Niinimäki Wind Farm in Pieksämäki, Finland, began in 2022, with turbine assembly starting at the end of September 2023. All turbines have now reached pre-assembly height, and the first five have been erected to their full height of 250 meters. Once complete, the wind farm will feature 22 turbines with a total capacity of more than 145 megawatts.
The first turbine, fully assembled in the northern part of the site, was completed on November 13. Each turbine has an individual output of 6.6 megawatts. The next steps involve lifting the upper tower sections, nacelles, blades, and hubs for the remaining turbines.
"Currently, assembling a single turbine takes about five days. If all goes as planned, eight turbines will be completed by the end of the year, with the entire wind farm scheduled to be operational by spring 2025," says Ville Häkkinen, Project Manager at OX2.
Logistics and component deliveries
Component deliveries to the site have been ongoing since late August, with over 70% of parts already on location. The components are transported from the Port of Hamina to Pieksämäki.
"Blade deliveries are complete, and the remaining tower sections will arrive by the end of December. Following this, nacelles and gearboxes will be transported, with all deliveries expected to conclude by February," Häkkinen adds.
Infrastructure and energy impact
The infrastructure for energy transmission is already in place. A power line to transmit electricity from the wind farm was completed in September, and the substation was finalized in November. Eltel Networks handled the construction of both installations.
Electrification of the turbines will begin in January 2024. Once fully operational, the Niinimäki Wind Farm is expected to produce over 400 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity annually, equivalent to the yearly consumption of approximately 80,000 households (based on 5,000 kWh per household).
OX2 will continue to manage the technical and financial operations of Niinimäki wind farm. The wind farm is owned by Helen and Ålandbanken's Wind Power Special Investment Fund.
