There are several parties involved in the planning process and a number of permits are required, depending on the project size and location.
The required permits are
- Building permit
- Compliance with flight security (for wind turbines more than 30m high)
- Permit in accordance with the Electricity Market Act for cables above 110kV
- Redemption right on the land needed for new electricity transmission lines
The permits that might be required depending on the location are
- Permit in accordance with the Water Act, if a project has an impact on the water system (always offshore)
- Environmental permit, if a project causes inconvenience to neighbors, such as noise or shimmer
There is also a need for a statement from The Finnish Defense Forces that the planned turbines will not be a factor of disturbance for their radar equipment. The project developer should contact the military (kirjaamo.pe (at) mil.fi) in a very early stage of the project to ask if the radar effects or other military operations need to be taken into account during the project development. In this phase the name of the municipality where the project is planned to might be enough, but more information the developer can provide, the easier it is for the military to give their answer. If the analyses is neede to be done, the developer should contact the Federation of Energy Industries (tutkat (at) energia.fi) to buy a license that entitles the developer to get project analyzed by VTT. The license costs 171,71 €/turbine. The Federation of Energy Industries will give more instructions how the analyses can be done.
The EIA is always needed when a wind farm is bigger than 10 turbines or 30 MW. For smaller projects the authority of the local Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment will decide if the EIA is needed or not. In areas that are close to city centers or close to an area that has high nature values, it is highly likely that the EIA has to be done even though the project is smaller than 10 turbines or 30 MW.
The planning of wind power in Finland is mainly applied as the building in general, following the rules of Land Use and Building Act . The planning system comprises national land use guidelines, the regional land use plan, the local master plan and the local detailed plan. The spatial planning system is hierarchical, the more generally featured plan works as a guideline for the more detailed plan.
