Wind and solar parks pay property tax to the municipality, which can be used, for example, to hire teachers. Tax revenues reduce the pressure to raise municipal taxes. In some municipalities, they have even helped lower taxes.

The municipal council. If the council says no, the wind farm will not be built. Every resident has the opportunity to influence the project by providing feedback during the various stages of the EIA process and the zoning process.

Wind farm planning always starts by determining which type of wind farm is suitable and feasible for the area. Only after that is it time for decisions.

Wind farms should be built in areas with sufficient wind and where they don’t cause too much disruption. Currently, very little wind power is being built on the southern coast and in Eastern Finland because wind turbines could interfere with the Defence Forces’ operations there. Distributing wind power across regions also makes sense because major industrial electricity users are located there.

Wind turbines are not silent. Their sound is a low hum that is relatively hard to hear indoors. In Finland, wind turbine noise is regulated more strictly than other sound sources in the built environment. The noise from each wind turbine is carefully modelled during the EIA process to ensure that government-set limits are not exceeded. Follow-up measurements have shown that the models correspond well to reality.

Noise modelling takes into account terrain shapes and bodies of water. The dampening effect of forests is not taken into account because it changes over the years.

To determine this, noise and shadow flicker modelling is conducted during the EIA process and updated if necessary during the wind farm’s building permit phase. The amount of flicker is assessed in line with guidelines from other countries, as Finland has not set limits for shadow flicker.

In midsummer, the sun shines from high up, so the shadow area is small. On sunny autumn and winter days, the shadow extends further. In practice, flicker can be observed in some locations for a few hours each year.

The EIA may feel burdensome and distant, but it is an effective process that challenges project planners. The EIA thoroughly examines the area’s distinctive characteristics. If the project is found to cause significant harm, the plan is modified or abandoned.

No. This must be said directly and honestly: almost all large construction sites in Finland use foreign labour. Energy projects and data centres are no exception. There has been a shortage of Finnish construction workers, and large projects also require specialists who are scarce in Finland.

We choose the local option when we have two equally strong candidates or service providers. However, if local expertise cannot be obtained on reasonable terms, we use workers from other regions or abroad. Materials and tech for wind and solar energy is mostly brought from abroad. Materials for building and construction, on the other hand, come from nearby. Maintenance is also primarily carried out by domestic personnel.

We are responsible for ensuring that the roads have sufficient load-bearing capacity. We cannot risk damage to wind turbine blades, solar panels or data centre servers during transport. This is why the road network in the area generally improves as a result of the project. This benefits forestry, among other things, and everyone who travels in the area, including hunters and berry pickers.

In some places, this makes sense. Solar installations can be built in wind farm areas or in nearby areas that are not suitable for wind power generation.

Yes, it is. The profitability of solar power has improved rapidly as technology has developed. Southern Finland receives as much solar radiation annually as northern Germany. Solar power output often peaks on days with no wind in Finland.

A typical Pohjan Voima solar park produces about 50 GWh of electricity per year.

Typically, we refer to the total capacity of a solar park. There’s a simple rule of thumb: ten megawatts of capacity provides electricity for about 500 single-family homes annually. So if a solar park has a capacity of 50 MW, there’s enough electricity for 2,500 single-family homes.

In energy terms, 10 MW of capacity produces about 8–9 GWh of electricity per year.

Land reserved for solar power cannot be used for other purposes, such as recreational use, after that. However, it is relatively easy to find land for solar power that is difficult to use for other purposes. In common parlance, such areas are called wastelands.

The solar park’s installation areas are fenced, so moving around or picking berries in them is not possible.

The environmental impacts of a solar park are relatively minor.

Solar installations may disturb bird nesting and movement, as well as that of other species. Potential impacts are carefully assessed during project preparation. Nesting bird territories are identified and taken into account in planning, as are the area’s vegetation, habitat types and any endangered species.

Solar panels have no moving parts, so they require relatively little maintenance. Panel surfaces are regularly cleaned of dust, bird droppings and other debris because clean panels produce more electricity. Over a lifespan of more than 25 years, connectors, cables and other electrical parts may need to be replaced. If an individual panel weakens or breaks, it is replaced.

Often, solar installations are built on wasteland, such as former peat bogs. However, cutting trees may be necessary. In such cases, the project’s preliminary studies carefully assess the impacts on nature.

Solar panels have no moving parts, so they are very long-lasting. The lifespan of current solar panels is usually about 25–35 years, sometimes even exceeding 40 years.

Battery energy storage, or BESS (Battery Energy Storage System), is a facility containing batteries that stores electricity and feeds it back into the grid as required.

Production and consumption in the electricity grid must remain in balance at all times. Battery storage helps smooth out fluctuations in wind and solar energy and keeps the grid stable.

Battery storage systems generate property tax revenue for municipalities. Their construction and maintenance also create jobs in the area.

The lifespan of current batteries is approximately 15–20 years. After that, the batteries can be replaced.

Yes. The batteries are similar to those used in electric vehicles. Battery storage facilities have automatic fire suppression systems as a precautionary measure.

No more than an ordinary industrial building constructed in a remote location. The benefits and downsides are assessed in advance as part of the building permit process.

A data centre is a building that houses a large number of powerful servers.

Without data centres, there would be no social media, streaming services, video conferencing, cloud services, online banking, AI applications, and more. In other words, the internet runs entirely on data centres.

Finland offers affordable, clean electricity, and the transmission grid is reliable. The cool climate reduces the need for cooling, and society is stable. For these reasons, Finland is an attractive location for data centres. Thanks to clean energy, a data centre operating in Finland has only one-tenth of the climate impact of one in China.

A large data centre can consume as much electricity as a steel mill. This is because data centres process vast amounts of information. Data centres are increasing overall electricity consumption as people use more digital services and society moves increasingly in that direction.

Data centres generate property tax, withholding tax and municipal income tax for municipalities. If the data centre is large, annual revenues are counted in millions of euros. Additionally, the construction, maintenance and operation of data centres provide jobs for local people.

During operation, data centres are quiet and emission-free. In Finland, there is no record of data centres causing harm to people living nearby. During construction, truck traffic and noise from the site may be heard. In Finland, the benefits and drawbacks of data centres are examined in detail during zoning and EIA processes

Pohjan Voima is a Finnish energy company that develops wind and solar parks, battery energy storage systems and data centres – and integrates them with each other.