Aquila Capital is expanding its portfolio in the Nordics with the acquisition of its first project in Finland, a wind turbine farm with an installed capacity of 14.4 megawatts on the coast near Kokkola.
Windpark Ykspihlaja has an installed capacity of 14.4 megawatts, which includes four Nordex N131/3600 turbines, and is in one of Finland’s most favorable locations with an average wind speed of 7.7 meters/second. The wind farm will generate a capacity factor of 43 percent, which is above average for wind projects.
“The Ykspihlaja wind farm is one of the last projects to benefit from the expiring Finnish green energy support scheme, from which it will receive a state-guaranteed, fixed-market premium on the electricity price in the first 12 years of operation,” says Susanne Wermter, head of special infrastructure investments at Aquila Capital.
The acquisition increases Aquila Capital’s track record in the wind sector to about 1,000 megawatts. With regards to the Nordics, Aquila Capital has implemented renewable energy projects with a total installed capacity of more than 800 megawatts since 2011.
Ykspihlaja is the third project that Aquila Capital has acquired on a turnkey basis with OX2, one of the largest wind developers in Scandinavia. OX2 will be the project developer and vendor for all three wind farm projects. OX2 will build the parks as EPC supplier and take care of their technical management.
The second project comprises the purchase of Högkölen, a Scandinavian wind park that will have an installed capacity of 64.8 megawatts once it is connected to the grid in 2018. The wind park will have 18 Vestas V 126 3.6-megawatt turbines that will produce about 244 gigawatts per hour of electricity on a yearly basis due to outstanding wind conditions.
The first acquisition is a large wind power project in Lehtirova in northern Sweden. The wind park will have 41 Vestas V 126 3.6-megawatt turbines with an installed capacity of almost 148 megawatts and an annual production of approximately 490 gigawatts per hour once the turbines are connected to the grid in 2018.
In the past two years, Aquila Capital has acquired wind energy projects and parks in Scandinavia with a capacity of approximately 400 megawatts.