Finland’s most productive wind farms produced with an efficiency of almost 50%
The efficiency of wind turbines built in Finland has been growing in recent years, according to statistics collected by the Technology Research Center VTT. Last year, the average efficiency of Finnish wind farms was 33 percent. However, the best wind farm generated electricity at almost 50 percent efficiency.
According to VTT’s statistics, the efficiency of Finnish wind power plants has risen slowly but surely in recent years. The average efficiency of wind turbines built in Finland between 2011 and 2018 in 2019 was 33 per cent. Last year, the efficiency of the best-producing wind farm rose to as much as 47 percent. Finland’s top five wind farms generated electricity with an efficiency of 40 to 47 percent.
“The placement of wind turbines in Finland has been successful and we have a lot of excellent productive wind farms, as a total of 32 parks produced with an efficiency of more than 35% last year. The figures are good, especially given that last year was occasionally weaker than average. The newest wind turbines, completed in 2019, will only appear in the 2020 statistics, as most of them were not commissioned until the end of the year. With technological development, the newest power plant is, in principle, always more efficient and therefore typically increases the average efficiency, ”says Anni Mikkonen, CEO of the Finnish Wind Power Association.
Finland’s wind power plants are among the best in Europe in terms of efficiency. The efficiency of European wind farms averaged 26% last year. The difference in the efficiency of wind farms in Finland and in Europe as a whole is explained, at least in part, by the fact that wind power construction in Finland started later than in the rest of Europe and our power plant stock is newer than average.
The development of wind power technology is one of the factors most strongly influencing the efficiency of power plants – the taller the towers and the longer the blades, the better the efficiency, especially in forested areas. In addition, Finland, and the Nordic countries in general, are a windier region than many wind power generation areas in Central and Southern Europe.
Additional information:
Anni Mikkonen, Finnish Wind Power Association, 040 771 6114
Timo Karlsson, Technology Research Center VTT Oy, +358 40 484 7197