FINLAND: A rush to wind power
The economic and business daily Kauppalehti reports that the decision by the new government to cut the feed-in tariffs paid to promote the use of wind power has led to a flood of applications to built new wind farms before subsidies fall.
A power unit at the Latamäki wind farm. Image: Matti Myller / Yle
Investors fear that the cuts will means the loss of millions already in projects if permits are not filed in time to apply for and get current feed-in tariff subsidies, explains today’s Kauppalehti.
The paper quotes figures from the Finnish Energy Authority indicating that if all the permit applications that had been filed by Thursday afternoon are in proper form, the present wind power quota of 2,500 megawatts will have been surpassed by 200 megawatts.
Rabbe Sittnikow of the Hannes Snellman law firm told Kauppalehti that the new government policy has aroused a lot of negative attention both in Finland and abroad, bringing concerned calls from British, German and Dutch investors who have put their money in wind power projects in Finland.
Many are worried, he said, that pending projects they have invested in will not be completed in time to quality for state subsidies.
“Up until now, Finland has been recognized as a country with a culture of stable regulations. If policy on subsidies now starts fluctuating, it could have a much wider effect than just limiting investments in wind power,” Sittnikow added. yle
NOTE: I found this interesting tidbit from 2010:
Nowhere else has more turbines per head, and Denmark is also a global centre of wind turbine manufacturing – with Vestas, the world’s leading turbine firm, based in the country.
Unfortunately, Danish electricity bills have been almost as dramatically affected as the Danish landscape. Thanks in part to the windfarm subsidies, Danes pay some of Europe’s highest energy tariffs – on average, more than twice those in Britain. Under public pressure, Denmark’s ruling Left Party is curbing the handouts to the wind industry.
“Since 2005 alone, 5.1 billion kroner [£621 million] has been paid to the wind turbine owners. That cost has been borne by businesses and private consumers,” says the party’s environment spokesman, Lars Christian Lilleholt. “It seems to have become a political fashion to say that there should be more support for wind. But we have to look at other renewables. We cannot go on with wind power only.”
