Wind farm development in Finland

Project development calls for working dialogue with local landowners, grid operators, municipalities, and environmental authorities.

Key development activities include environmental assessments and wind measurements, securing of land rights and grid connection capacity, spatial planning and permitting, as well as the conclusion of project agreements. For medium-sized wind farms, the average timespan from preliminary feasibility studies to commercial operation is approximately 4-6 years.

Finland has no "one-stop-shop" permit for wind farms. Several individual permits and statements from different state and municipal authorities are therefore required, with only limited procedural coordination in place.

Wind energy development, however, enjoys the procedural privileges and supportive measures for construction of renewable energy plants. This includes time-limits for construction and operation permitting and a recent proposal to temporarily grant procedural priority to green transition projects between 2023-2027 in administrative courts and the Regional State Administrative Agency. Authorities have also compiled a manual for renewable energy project developers, and guidance is offered nation-wide by a centralised administrative contact point.