Finland’s Fortum to build first 80MW PV project in home country

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
Fortum has developed and constructed 680MW of solar PV in India since 2013. This project is its first in Finland. Image: Fortum.

Finnish utility Fortum has begun development on an 80MW solar PV plant in Finland’s Virolahti municipality in the Southeast of the country bordering Russia. It will be Fortum’s first solar PV project in its home country.

The details of suppliers, technology, timescale or electricity sale for the project are yet to be announced, but Fortum confirmed that it will be located across the Yläpää and Uusitalo areas of Virohlati, covering around 160 hectares. The company said it will cover the whole value chain of the project.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Unlock unlimited access for 12 whole months of distinctive global analysis

Photovoltaics International is now included.

  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Unlimited digital access to the PV Tech Power journal catalogue
  • Unlimited digital access to the Photovoltaics International journal catalogue
  • Access to more than 1,000 technical papers
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

The Virohlati municipal board will discuss the zoning process at its next meeting and the plan will be open for public comment during the project development process, which is expected to run for 1-2 years.

“This project is a great start for us in solar power in Finland and we are happy that it has strong local support,” said Mikko Iso-Tryykäri, head of wind and solar project development at Fortum.

“We are developing the project in close cooperation with the landowners and the municipality of Virolahti. We see a lot of potential for solar power in the Nordic countries. There is a strong demand for renewable wind and solar power, which will grow even more as industry decarbonises and the demand for hydrogen increases.”

Until now, Fortum’s solar operations had been limited to co-ownership of a handful of projects in India. In July 2021 it divested itself of two of them totalling 500MW, selling them to private equity firm Actis.

Finland recently signed up to be a host country in the EU’s first cross-border solar tender under its Renewable Energy Finance Mechanism. 400MW worth of projects will be tendered with money provided by Luxembourg to be deployed in Finland, with the financing country taking 80% of the renewable energy credits towards its decarbonisation goals. PV Tech Premium spoke with the European Commission about the programme last month.

In April OX2 – a Swedish solar developer – bought the 475MW Huittinen solar farm in Finland from Finnish PV developer SAJM Holding Oy. It is one of the country’s largest solar plants.

Read Next

July 1, 2025
French private equity firm Ardian Clean Energy Evergreen Fund (ACEEF) has bought 117 solar PV plants, worth 116MW of total capacity in several locations in Italy.
July 1, 2025
A five-year research initiative is underway in Australia to test the viability of floating solar systems on irrigation dams.
June 30, 2025
Voting on the US tax reconciliation bill is expected to begin in the Senate today, following a draft published on Friday that hit clean energy tax credits hard.
June 30, 2025
Australian module manufacturer Tindo Solar has secured a 30MW solar module supply agreement to power Australia's first "net zero pipeline”.
June 27, 2025
Renewables investment platform Nexwell Power has signed a round of power purchase agreements (PPAs) with “one of the largest” US tech companies for solar PV capacity to be built in Spain.
June 27, 2025
Statkraft has signed PPAs with Better Energy to purchase energy from two solar power plants in Poland with a total capacity of 64GWh.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Solar Media Events
July 1, 2025
London, UK
Solar Media Events
July 1, 2025
London, UK
Media Partners, Solar Media Events
July 2, 2025
Bangkok, Thailand
Media Partners, Solar Media Events
September 2, 2025
Mexico City, Mexico
Solar Media Events
September 16, 2025
Athens, Greece