The launch of the largest solar power plant in Finland did not go according to plan

Commissioning of Finland's largest power plant is seriously delayed. Its launch has already been postponed to next year.

"Finland's largest solar power plant, which is about to be completed in Kalanti, Uusikaupunki, is seriously behind schedule. The solar park, which covers 200 hectares, was supposed to be completed last summer, but the project is still being tested," Yle writes.

"Inspections have been carried out over the past month and a half. All connections and controls are being checked, that is, the so—called functionality review is being conducted," said Petri Polvilampi, Senior project manager at Helen Energy Company.

According to him, the completion date remains unclear. Including because of the size of the station. The solar park consists of 12 panel zones, in which 380 thousand solar panels were placed. The capacity of the power plant is estimated at 206 MW.

"Currently, there are two solar parks in Helena — in Nurmiyarvi and Lohje. Their combined capacity is only 10 megawatts. Thus, the Kalanti power plant itself is 20 times larger than they combined," Yle noted.

Petri Polvilampi told the publication that the problems and the slow completion of the project are largely related to the size of the power plant.

"It all started with planning, not everything went according to plan. Quite a lot of corrective measures had to be carried out during construction. In other words, the duration of the construction was caused solely by issues related to the design," said a representative of the energy company.

At the same time, not all other planned solar power plant projects will be implemented. The Finnish Association of Renewable Energy Sources believes, for example, that about a third of the planned wind energy projects will be implemented. There are no such forecasts for solar energy, but low electricity prices have already led to the cancellation of the construction of two solar power plants in Satakunte.

The manager of the Finnish Renewable Energy Association, Klaara Tapper, told Yle that the question is mainly whether there are buyers for the final product at a price that allows you to make an investment decision.