Suvilahti solar power plant has fulfilled expectations
The solar power plant in the Helsinki district of Suvilahti, which was Finland’s largest solar power plant on completion, has met all expectations since it started production last spring. The cloudy weather in early summer was balanced out by the sunny August days, capturing enough solar power to correspond to the annual consumption of 100 one-bedroom apartments.
The 1,194 solar panels of the Suvilahti power plant started producing electricity last March. From April until August, customers with a designated panel received over 200,000 kWh of solar-produced electricity, corresponding to the annual consumption of over 100 one-bedroom apartments.
The weather was exceptional this summer. August was almost 30 per cent sunnier than normal, but the period from April to July was approximately 10 per cent less sunny than usual. As a result, the summer was only a couple of per cent cloudier than normal and, as a result, plenty of solar energy was produced.
– Even when we were designing the solar power plant and the new concept of designated panels, we estimated that the electricity price peaks would coincide with solar power production during the sunny summer days. And that is exactly what now happened, Helen’s Project Director Atte Kallio is pleased to note.
– As production varies according to daylight, it was about 30 per cent more valuable in the period from April to August than corresponding steady production would have been. The benefit can be seen in full in the electricity bill of our customers who have a designated panel because we offset the production of the panels by the hour according to the exchange price.
A solar power plant in an urban environment enables production of clean energy close to where the energy is used. Helen’s Suvilahti solar power plant increased the total solar electricity output connected to Finland’s grid by over 10 per cent. A solar power plant that is twice as big as the Suvilahti plant, with almost 3,000 designated panels, is under construction in the Kivikko district of Helsinki. Almost half of these panels have already been sold. The Kivikko power plant will start production in early winter.
Real-time monitoring of the Suvilahti solar power plant helen.fi
Facts:
- The output of the Suvilahti solar power plant is over 340 kW. The power plant produces about 275 megawatt-hours of solar power each year, which corresponds to the electricity consumption of about 137 one-bedroom apartments.
- The Suvilahti solar power plant increased the total solar electricity output connected to Finland’s grid by over 10 per cent.
- Suvilahti has 1,194 solar panels, which are sold to consumers as designated panels. Customers receive the solar power produced by their designated panel for their own use for a monthly fee, and the value of the electricity produced by the panel is deducted from the electricity bill.
- The monthly fee of a designated panel is EUR 4.40.
- A single designated panel in Suvilahti produces over 11 per cent of the electricity consumed by a one-bedroom apartment. If the residents of a one-bedroom apartment save energy and are using five panels, they could produce all the electricity they consume themselves directly from the sun at the annual level.
- An even larger power plant is currently under construction in the Kivikko district of Helsinki, with almost 3,000 new designated panels with a total output of over 850 kWp.
