Fortum to start building the Sørfjord windfarm in Norway

Fortum has made a final investment decision on the Sørfjord windfarm in Northern Norway. Sørfjord is part of the wind portfolio that Fortum acquired from Nordkraft earlier this year.

The Sørfjord wind park will have 23 wind turbines with a total capacity of 96.6 megawatts. The wind turbines for Sørfjord will be delivered by Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy. Each wind turbine will have a nominal effect of 4.2 megawatts and a rotor diameter of 130 meters.

Initial civil works on the Sørfjord site have been ongoing since spring 2017. The foundations and the electrical works will be executed during 2018 and 2019 and the wind farm is expected to be commissioned in late 2019.

“This investment decision is a further step in the implementation of our wind growth strategy. Our aim is to build a sizeable wind portfolio in the Nordic area. We believe that wind will be one of the most competitive options in the Nordic power production. Sørfjord has attractive and unique wind conditions that will be efficiently harnessed through direct drive and large rotor machines,” says Philippe Stohr, Vice President of Wind Power at Fortum.

Fortum finalised the acquisition of three wind power projects from Nordkraft at the beginning of January 2017. The transaction consisted of Nygårdsfjellet wind farm, which is in operation, as well as the fully-permitted Ånstadblåheia and Sørfjord projects that are now being constructed. When built, the total installed capacity of the three wind farms will be approximately 180 MW. Fortum is cooperating with Nordkraft for the construction and operation of the portfolio.

Norway has a market-based electricity certificate support system for renewable electricity production for assets commissioned before the end of 2020.