Vestas has received a 42MW order for the Långnabba wind project which is located on the Åland Islands, in the Baltic Sea, between the Finnish and Swedish mainland. The project will be developed by Vind AX AB, a Finnish developer and independent power producer, and new customer for Vestas.

As Åland’s largest wind power project to date, the project harnesses the versatility of Vestas’ 4MW platform, comprising ten V136-4.2MW turbines with 112m towers. To ensure a maximised energy production over the lifetime of the wind project, Vestas and Vind AX has signed a 25-year Active Output Management 5000 (AOM 5000) service agreement.

Under this contract and supporting job creation on the Åland Islands, Vestas has engaged Allwinds AB, a local service provider, to support Vestas’ service team at the Långnabba wind project.

Leif Nordlund, Långnabba project manager, said: “We are delighted having contracted the wind turbines for Långnabba with Vestas, who has a long experience and solid knowledge in the wind industry. Having closed a service agreement, locally anchored through Allwinds, they will be Vestas’ extended arm on Åland in terms of servicing the turbines.”

Nils de Baar, Vestas Northern and Central Europe president, said: “We are pleased to have been awarded this project, and look forward to supporting Vind AX AB in an initiative that will transition Åland’s energy consumption to be powered by 65% wind energy, a significant leap forward from just 18% in previous years. This contract win is further proof of Vestas’ ability to assist Finland in its transition towards a green energy system.”

The Långnabba wind project at its Åland Islands’ location is characterised by a very demanding grid environment with very low short circuit ratios, making it prone to instabilities.

Leveraging its industry leading grid capabilities, Vestas has developed project-specific settings on control parameters, involving both key wind turbine components and the power plant controller. This configuration will ensure a cost-efficient and reliable connection between the wind project and the power grid.

Jan Hagen, Vestas Power Solutions vice president, technical sales Northern and Central Europe, said: “The highly customised power plant solution for Långnabba demonstrates Vestas’ commitment to technology leadership in the grid arena. We keep adding valuable levers to enable and improve projects in similar weak grid topologies, a condition that we foresee becoming increasingly prevalent in the future.”

Once commissioned, the project will produce over 130GWh of energy per year, which will power approximately 10,000 households in the Åland Islands.

With this deal, Vestas reinforces its presence in Finland’s wind market, where it has installed around 400 wind turbines with a total capacity of almost 1.3GW to date.

The contract includes supply, installation and commissioning of the wind turbines, as well as a VestasOnline Business SCADA solution, which will lower turbine downtime and optimise energy output.

Deliveries are expected to begin in the third quarter of 2021 and commissioning is planned for the first quarter of 2022.