Late this summer, 14 wind turbines were built at Ånstadblåheia, outside Sortland in Norway. The unique wind conditions here make the area perfect for the production of power from a renewable energy source.
The Mayor of Sortland, Tove Mette Bjørkmo, is very pleased to have a wind farm in the municipality.
"Facilitating renewable energy is something that will give Norway a competitive advantage in the global market. Increasingly, more people are requesting renewable, green energy for their businesses. The fact that we can contribute to that is positive," she says.
Only local entrepreneurs
We have used only local entrepreneurs to build the Ånstadblåheia wind farm. Thus the establishment has been of great importance to the business community in Vesterålen.
Among the local contractors that built the wind farm is Bulldozer Maskinlag and Sortland Entreprenør. The CEO of Sortland Entreprenør, Andreas Einejord, says the process has been enlightening and exciting.
"We have previously had large jobs with concrete and construction work, like ferry boats, bridges and tunnel portals, but no other concrete and construction jobs of this size. It has been interesting to work with a large and international actor, and at the same time, it is great that we as a local actor have earned the trust to do this project. This means that most of the products and subcontractors used are local to the Vesterål region," he says.
The local entrepreneurs made good progress the entire time, and the project was long ahead of schedule. The building project was led by the Norwegian company Nordkraft.
Fortum's VinnVind-efforts programme provides local support
Furthermore, we contribute to the local community with Fortum's VinnVind-efforts, which is earmarked for sports, cultural, environmental and youth activities in Sortland. This year Sortland Alpinklubb was awarded one million Norwegian kroner. This will be used to repair the ski lift that broke down in the winter.
Implementing the strategy
Renewable energy sources play a key role in the change towards a cleaner world. We target a gigawatt-scale solar and wind portfolio. Currently, we have wind parks in Norway, Sweden and Russia.
