Residents oppose planned solar power complex in Inkoo farmland

Residents are strongly opposing plans for one of Finland’s largest solar power complexes in Inkoo, Yle reports. Swedish company Alight wants to build seven solar power plants covering about 140 hectares near the borders of Siuntio and Lohja.

The planned partial master plan amendment covers more than 400 hectares in the Flyt and Vassböle areas. The land is part of a regionally valuable cultural environment where farming has continued for more than 400 years. About 50 homes and at least one horse farm are located within or near the planning area.

A petition signed by 370 residents will be considered by the Inkoo municipal board next Monday.

Local residents Marcus Lönn and Patrik Karell say the solar panels would cover much of the farmland visible from the roads. Karell, a docent in ecology at the University of Helsinki who works as a director at Novia University of Applied Sciences, lives in his childhood home near the planning area.

He says the surrounding area has abundant birdlife, as well as lynx, deer, otters and occasionally wolves. Black grouse also gather there for their spring mating display.

“This valuable whole would become fragmented in many ways because of these power plants,” Karell says.

Alight says the planned complex would produce 90 gigawatt-hours of electricity annually, equivalent in its calculations to the electricity consumption of about 11,500 households. The calculation is based on annual consumption of about 5,000 kilowatt-hours per household.

The company said last year that Inkoo and the wider Uusimaa region offered good conditions for solar energy because of solar radiation levels and sufficient grid capacity. Alight is also planning solar power plants in Loviisa and Vihti, and opened its first Finnish site in Eurajoki in early September.

Several other solar power plants are being planned nearby on the Siuntio side. At least one additional plant is also planned in Inkoo on a former peat production area about half a kilometre from Vassböle. A data centre is currently being built near the Inkoo border on the Lohja side.

“Someone should look at the bigger picture. When projects are handled one at a time, the overall picture is forgotten,” Lönn says.

The planning proposal received 40 comments during its public display period, five of them from Lohja. Inkoo says placing solar panels in a landscape of regional value is not prohibited in principle, but requires careful planning and impact assessments.

The Inkoo-Siuntion environmental association has also previously expressed concern about large-scale solar power projects in the area. Alight says it will cooperate with the local community and take environmental considerations into account.