Finland will launch an auction for five offshore wind power sites with up to 500 turbines in Finland's public water areas, it said on Thursday.
"The total surface area of the five offshore wind power sites to be included in the auction procedure is about 860 km2 and their calculated maximum capacity is about 7,500 megawatts," the government said in a statement.
Finland's state-owned management company in charge of land and water areas will handle the auctions and lease the sites located on Finland's western coastline to selected partners for up to 50 years, it said.
"The wind power from the sites to be auctioned is expected to increase Finland's annual electricity production by more than a third," Minister of Climate and the Environment Kai Mykkanen told reporters.
(Reuters - Reporting by Anne Kauranen, editing by Essi Lehto and Anna Ringstrom)