Metsähallitus, Finland’s administrator of state-owned land and water areas, will soon wrap up surveys of underwater flora and fauna off the coast of Korsnäs, which are part of the environmental impact assessment (EIA) for a gigawatt-scale offshore wind farm.
The work, being performed by the Finnish underwater survey specialist Alleco Oy, started in July with surveys of the possible landing points for the submarine cable. The area for the planned offshore wind farm was examined at the beginning of September.
The data collected through the surveys, which have been carried out through diving operations and using drop cameras, as well as wading around the potential export cable landfall site, will be analysed during the autumn.
Once the data has been processed, the results of the studies can be included in the EIA process.
Metsähallitus had submitted plans for an offshore wind farm in the waters offshore Korsnäs some two years ago, which were then approved by the municipality of Korsnäs in December 2020.
In May 2021, the state-owned enterprise, which already started looking for a partner to develop the offshore wind farm, released details of the project and said it planned to have the Korsnäs offshore wind farm up and running as early as 2028.
In November last year, Metsähallitus launched a wind measurement campaign for the proposed offshore wind farm, which it said would have a capacity of between 1.3 GW and 2 GW.
This July, the Finnish Government approved the lease of the state-owned sea area off the coast of Korsnäs for a commercial-scale offshore wind project, together with the lease of the area off Pori where the Finnish developer Suomen Hyötytuuli Oy is planning an expansion of the offshore wind farm at Tahkoluoto.
These lease permits for offshore wind areas are the first ones of their kind for Finland, according to Metsähallitus.