The ground-mounted solar park will be located on 123 hectares in Eurajoki, Western Finland, and once complete will provide enough power for about 20,000 homes.
With an installed capacity of 100+ MW, equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of about 20,000 homes, it will be one of Finland’s largest solar parks under development.
Construction of the solar park will begin in Q4 2024 with commissioning planned for Q1 2026.
Warren Campbell, chief operations officer at Alight, said in a statement that Alight sees significant potential for solar development in the Finnish market.
Said Campbell: “This new project in Eurajoki marks an exciting expansion phase into the Finnish market for Alight, while at the same time helping the country to reach its ambitious targets of becoming carbon neutral by 2035 and the world’s first fossil fuel-free society.”
Finland is not the only market Alight is looking to expand into. In July this year, the company opened an office in Madrid, Spain, to support its European expansion and tap into the area’s mature solar market.
The Finnish municipality of Eurajoki is also home to the Olkiluoto 3 nuclear power plant, which began producing electricity this year.
Finland’s green ambitions
Finland has some of the world’s most ambitious clean energy targets and according to the International Energy Agency, the country’s nuclear fleet and high shares of electricity generation from biomass, hydro and wind power, have led to a low reliance on fossil fuels. In 2021, fossil fuels accounted for 36% of the total energy supply in Finland.
Currently, solar power accounts for almost 1% of Finnish electricity production, with plans in place to build more solar capacity. Finland’s transmission system operator Fingrid has received solar power connection enquiries amounting to a total capacity of over 100MW.
The country’s cold temperatures and low atmospheric pressure make solar conversion more efficient, according to LUT University. In winter, façade installations maximise the sun’s low position and also prevent snow build-up.
