Electricity prices are not directly dependent on the production of individual production sites. Rather, they are the result of many actors trading on the energy market, and the price is determined by supply and demand. Energy from production sites can be freely sold on the electricity market, and thanks to the transmission cable that connects us to Sweden, Åland is a part of electricity price area SE3.
The transmission cables from wind parks north of Åland will most likely be drawn to both Sweden and Finland – large electricity markets with rapidly rising demand for green energy. To develop large-scale offshore wind in Åland waters is therefore not primarily a question of producing cheap electricity for the local community. Rather, it concerns:
- Creating synergies around a new export product – wind energy, which Åland has plenty of,
- To maximize the socio-economic profit of this for Åland, and
- To increase Nordic green energy production and thus decrease our dependence on imported energy.
The business model of Ilmatar is based on the idea that local entrepreneurs and actors are engaged as early on as possible to trigger synergies throughout the project, from planning to dismantling. Our plan is that offshore wind will become something that the Åland community will profit from during several decades to come.
As a clarification, it can be added that smaller-scale wind power, such as the land-based wind parks connected to the grid on Åland, have a direct effect on the local price of electricity thanks to lower transmission costs and network losses.