Financial close was reached for project finance of Swedish wind farm, Maevaara, for which leading renewable engineering consultancy, SgurrEnergy, completed an independent energy yield prediction for Allianz Capital Partners. The wind farm, developed by Nordic onshore wind developer O2, will provide power to Google’s Hamina data center in Finland for the next 10 years, through a power purchase agreement (PPA). Allianz Capital Partners is providing financing for construction and will assume ownership of the site, upon commencement of operation.
The PPA for the 72MW wind farm, situated between Pajala and Övertorneå in Sweden’s Arctic region, marks a novel use of the integrated European electricity market and grid system, Nord Pool. Scandinavian interconnectivity will let Google purchase power from the wind farm in Sweden and, in effect, use it in its data center across the border in Finland.
As the Maevaara wind farm is situated in complex terrain with high tree density, SgurrEnergy, part of Wood Group, undertook Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis informed by a site survey to complete the independent energy yield prediction for the wind farm.
The newly launched Nordex N117 3MW wind turbine was modeled as part of the energy yield analysis. The wind turbine model has since been chosen as the candidate turbine for the development, due to its optimization for medium wind sites and options for very cold climates.
The power purchase agreement implemented for this project offers an interesting model for further wind farm development in this market.
The site consists of two clusters, each of which will comprise of 12 wind turbines. The development will move into the construction phase in the coming months and is expected to be operational in early 2015.
SgurrEnergy
www.sgurrenergy.com
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