Fingrid has launched a study into possible connection points for offshore wind projects in response to an exponential growth in the interest in developing this type of generation in Finland, it said on Friday.
The country’s transmission system operator expects to complete the study by the summer of 2024. The work will also aim to determine preliminary schedules for implementing the connections in the 2030s.
Fingrid said that by mid-October it had received preliminary connection inquiries for almost 90 GW of offshore wind power projects located in Finnish territorial waters, in the exclusive economic zone and in the territorial waters of Aland, with project areas overlapping to some extent.
Its announcement includes a map showing locations of public offshore wind power projects and Finland’s current 400-kilovolt main grid and cross-border connections.
The grid operator also said that it is exploring the possibilities of developing reservation practices for connection capacity to provide earlier certainty to developers of both large electricity generation and consumption projects.
Currently, connection capacity from the main grid is reserved for an individual project in a connection agreement, which requires the customer to have in place the needed permits for project construction, Fingrid explained.
At this point, Fingrid has not entered into any connection agreements with offshore wind power projects.
