O2 reaches financial close on Maevaara wind farm in Sweden

Nordic onshore wind developer O2 has reached financial close for the 72MW Maevaara wind farm, located between Pajala and Overtornea in Sweden’s Arctic region.

Once operational in early 2015, the project will supply its output to Google’s Hamina data centre in Finland under a 10-year power purchase agreement.

To be built some 100km to the north of the Polar Circle, near the town of Pajala, close to the border with Finland, the project site consists of two clusters, each comprising 12 Nordex N117/3000 wind turbines.

In June 2013, Nordex had won a contract from O2 to supply turbines for the project in the north of Sweden as well as provide at least 15 years of Nordex premium service.

The turbines will be built on tubular steel towers with a hub height of 120m in commercial timberland, enabling the wind farm to generate an optimum yield at the site, where medium wind speeds prevail.

Allianz Capital Partners is providing a loan facility to construct the wind farm and will take over ownership of the asset once it is commissioned, while O2 will commercially and technically manage the wind farm through a separate agreement.

SgurrEnergy, part of Wood Group, had completed the wind farm’s independent energy yield prediction for Allianz using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis.

SgurrEnergy Victoria O’Connor said that the consultancy has worked on Allianz’s first wind project in Sweden and has provided wind flow modeling in complex forestry to support Allianz in this acquisition.

"We look forward to working alongside Allianz Capital Partners as it continues to develop its renewable energy portfolio," O’Connor added.

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Image: Maevaara wind farm will feature Nordex wind turbines. Photo: courtesy of Nordex.