The Finnish Government Agreed on the Minimum Distance for Wind Power and Land Use Planning Requirements for Solar Farms

The Finnish Government has amended certain provisions of its earlier proposal for the New Land Use Act published last spring.

Following open political disagreement within the governing parties, the Government has agreed to set a minimum distance of 1.25 kilometres from inhabited areas for wind power. This minimum distance will apply where the wind farm is located outside an area specifically designated for wind power in the regional land use plan. This distance requirement may be waived with the consent of 4/5 of the landowners and tenants in the area in question. Whilst no further details on the amended provisions have yet been provided, the earlier proposal indicated that if a wind farm is partially located within a wind power area designated in the regional land use plan, the minimum distance requirement shall be applied to those wind turbines situated outside the regional land use plan designation.

The proposed 1.25-kilometre distance is political compromise. Although the fixed minimum distance makes the regulation considerably stricter than the currently applicable law, where the minimum distance is determined on the basis of noise impacts (typically an outdoor maximum of 40 dB at the affected location), it is significantly less than the minimum distance proposed earlier requiring a distance from inhabited areas of at least eight times the wind turbines’ total height. Under the earlier proposal, waiving the distance requirement would have required the consent of all landowners and tenants in the area in question.

The Government press release highlights that the minimum distance will not be applied retrospectively to wind farms already constructed. However, the Government has not provided any new information indicating that the previously proposed transitional provisions would be amended. According to the transitional provisions, the new legislation would apply also to wind farms for which the local component master plan proposal has been publicly presented before the Act enters into force (provided that no decision on the approval of the land use plan has been made).

In addition, the Government has now increased the threshold for the land use planning requirement for solar farms to 50 hectares. According to the draft bill, a solar farm covering an area of at least ten hectares could no longer be built solely on the basis of a building permit. Under current legislation, there is no fixed area requirement for solar farms.

According to the Government’s press release, the bill for the new Land Use Act will be issued in early 2026.