EPV Solar Power Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of EPV Energy, has made an investment decision on an industrial-scale solar energy park. The new solar farm will produce more than 90 GWh of electricity per year. The new investment will increase EPV’s renewable electricity production by about 6% and will perfectly support EPV Energy’s New Electricity Revolution® strategy. New electricity is the key enabler on the way to the new zero-emission world.
The Heinineva solar farm will be the EPV Group’s first industrial-scale solar park and one of the largest in Finland.
“This is a big decision and a great first step for EPV towards solar power generation. I am very excited that we can also now start investing in solar power. EPV’s strategy emphasises our desire to be at the forefront of progress and to remain resolutely involved in the transformation of the energy sector. We have invested significantly in new electricity over the past few years and will continue to do so. This renewable energy project is an excellent step forward in our plans to achieve emission-free energy generation,” says Rami Vuola, CEO of EPV Energy.
The project was preceded by a long period of testing and development. As the project will be built on phased-out peat diggings, different types of foundations have also been extensively studied.
“Not only is it a large-scale project, but it will also demonstrate a new type of technology that has been developed in Finland. In addition, the aim is to introduce an industrial-scale forecasting model for solar power production,” says Ari Soininen, Managing Director of EPV Solar Power.
The preliminary planning of the investment project started in 2022. The final tests and commissioning of the new solar farm will take place in late 2025.
EPV Energy has studied solar energy yield at its own solar power measuring facility since 2018
As a pioneer in zero-emission energy generation, EPV is constantly researching renewable energy technologies and energy production on the market. One example of this is its solar energy measuring station in Vuorenneva, Alavus, commissioned in September 2018. Using this station, EPV has studied and developed solar power forecasting models.
EPV Energy plans to build sustainably solar power
EPV’s plans are not confined to just this one park.
“EPV owns a lot of land that is especially suitable for this type of solar power generation, and we plan to use it for increasing the solar power with as little environmental impact as possible. EPV’s starting point is to select land in such a way that there is no need to prepare it or cut down trees to make way for the new solar farm,” Soininen explains.
EPV Energy is well placed to start industrial solar power generation, as the company has solid experience in building wind farms and long-term experience of operating on different soils. EPV Energy is one of the largest producers of wind power in Finland, having started its wind power programme as early as 2006. EPV Energy completed its sixth wind farm in Närpes at the beginning of 2023. Wind power is an important form of energy production for the company and already in 2022, approximately 27% of EPV’s electricity generation was coming from the wind.
Key figures for the planned Heinineva solar power plant in Lapua:
- Plant’s total output 100 MWp
- Approximately 140,000 solar panels
- Output per panel roughly 700 Wp
- Plant’s average output during its life cycle more than 90 GWh per year
- Length of panel mounts roughly 100 km
- Area size 140 hectares
EPV’s Heinineva solar power project in Lapua was awarded NextGenerationEU funding of more than EUR 12 million from the European Union’s Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) on 8 December 2022. The total sum of the project portfolio in the application was EUR 64.5 million.
For more information contact: Ari Soininen, Managing Director of EPV Solar Power Ltd, tel. +358 10 5055040
