UPM, Element Power Create Wind Power Joint Venture Company
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UPM, Helsinki, Finland, and Element Power have established a wind power development joint venture company to develop wind power production possibilities on a number of sites throughout Finland on land leased from UPM. The goal of the joint venture is to develop the best suitable land areas owned by UPM to be ready for wind power production. UPM owns approximately 850,000 hectares of land in Finland.
"UPM is looking to develop a number of areas that could be suitable for wind power production on our land, and we have now found the right development partner. Element Power will bring world class wind development expertise to the joint venture," says Matti Oksanen, director, UPM Energy, New Energy Ventures.
"After establishing a Finnish team in 2012, with ambitions to develop wind farms in Finland, we are very excited to be working with UPM to develop sites on UPM's land. This represents Element Power's most significant investment to date in Finland and we will be expanding our Finnish team to help support this joint venture, while accessing our teams and expertise throughout Europe and elsewhere to help develop the sites," said Mike O'Neill, president and COO, Element Power.
The goal of the Finnish climate and energy strategy is to use wind power to produce around 6% of the total electricity consumed by 2020. The production target is 6 TWh, which would require a total capacity of around 2,500 MW. This is the equivalent of approximately 900 turbines. At the end of 2012, almost 300 MW of wind power capacity had been installed in Finland.
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