IKEA acquires Finnish wind farm from OX2

IKEA has signed an acquisition agreement with the wind power company, OX2, for the Kemi wind farm in northern Finland. This is IKEA’s first wind power investment in the Finnish market, and the companies’ fourth joint project.

An existing wind farm, situated on the coast outside Ajos in Kemi, will be renewed and expanded. At present, there are ten wind turbines located on artificial islands in the sea and along the shoreline at the site. OX2 will replace these with modern turbines and will build three additional onshore turbines, thereby more than doubling output and improving operational reliability. This means that the new wind farm will consist of 13 new wind turbines with an estimated output of approximately 160 GWh/year.

Lars Midttun, IKEA Finland Country Manager, said:

”We invest in renewable energy because we want to have a positive impact on the environment and to accelerate the transition to a low carbon economy. The new wind farm will mean we produce more renewable energy than all the energy we use in our buildings in Finland."

Under the Acquisition Agreement, OX2 will now start construction of the project, and hand-over of the new wind farm to IKEA is planned for 2017. After the hand-over, OX2 will continue to be responsible for the commercial and technical management of the wind farm.

Paul Stormoen, Managing Director of OX2 Wind, said:

“This project is part of OX2’s expansion strategy to position itself on the global market. We have collaborated successfully with IKEA for many years, and we are now looking forward to constructing and delivering their first wind farm in Finland.”

An existing wind farm, situated on the coast outside Ajos in Kemi, will be renewed and expanded. At present, there are ten wind turbines located on artificial islands in the sea and along the shoreline at the site. OX2 will replace these with modern turbines and will build three additional onshore turbines, thereby more than doubling output and improving operational reliability. This means that the new wind farm will consist of 13 new wind turbines with an estimated output of approximately 160 GWh/year.

The new wind farm will consist of 8 Siemens SWT-130 3.3 MW wind turbines offshore, and 5 Siemens SWT-113 3.2 MW onshore (42.4 MW in total). The total height of the turbines will be around 150 m.

The acquisition agreement for the Ajos wind farm represents the fourth contract between OX2 and IKEA, with a total capacity of 174 MW of wind power in the Nordic region.