Finnish court overturns solar farm permit using wind power ruling as justification

Energy company Neoen Renewables Finland will appeal to the Supreme Administrative Court after a lower court revoked a planning permit for a large solar farm in Orimattila, southern Finland, citing a decade-old wind power precedent, Yle reports.

The Orimattila city council had approved a planning requirement decision allowing the company to build a nearly 200-hectare solar park in the Pakka-Uudenkartano area without full zoning. However, the Hämeenlinna Administrative Court overturned the decision, ruling that the project’s conditions must be clarified through formal zoning.

Neoen Renewables argues the court erred by directly comparing solar power to wind power. In its appeal, the company claims the administrative court copied reasoning “almost word for word” from an 11-year-old Supreme Administrative Court ruling on wind farms—without referencing the precedent. The firm warns such “copy-paste” practices could undermine legal certainty in individual cases.

Taina Hakkarainen, a media judge at the Helsinki Administrative Court, declined to comment on the specific case but noted that while Supreme Administrative Court rulings guide legal practice, each decision must be assessed individually. “They are sometimes used as templates because the reasoning is well-structured,” she said.

Neoen seeks a Supreme Court ruling to establish whether large-scale solar farms can be approved via the faster planning requirement process rather than full zoning. A legal amendment is already underway to mandate zoning for major solar projects, but dozens of pending applications—including a 100+ hectare farm in Vähä-Sorrila, Orimattila, which has already secured a legally binding permit—must be decided under current law.

Orimattila has begun partial zoning for the Pakka project despite the appeal. Neoen and the city maintain the original permit was lawful, while the administrative court’s decision would require scrapping the ongoing zoning process. The city’s planning chief, Suvi Lehtoranta, confirmed the Vähä-Sorrila project is currently seeking financing.

The company insists the solar farm would not complicate other land-use planning in the area, a view shared by Orimattila’s municipal board.