Mirka Oy is a family-owned company based in Jeppo, Nykarleby, developing and manufacturing abrasive products and power tools. Established in 1943, the company has been at the forefront of surface finishing technology for over eight decades. During 2023–2024, Mirka implemented a hybrid energy solution that combines clean solar energy with a smart production management and electric boiler system.
“This project has been exceptional in more ways than one. The solar farm that we built is connected to Adven’s automation system, and our power plant acts as an interface to the system. It immediately set new technical requirements for us in terms of equipment design and selection,” says Janne Salmi, project manager at Oomi Solar.
The 2.5-megawatt solar farm, completed in the summer of 2024, is located next to the factory on an area of more than two hectares. The solar farm consists of a total of 3,700 solar panels.
The hybrid energy solution combines clean solar energy with a smart production management and electric boiler system.
Cooperation with a broad group of experts
Salmi was responsible for the Oomi solar farm project together with Project Manager Jussi Ahlroth and Design Manager Kalle Herva, who served as an expert. Unlike most solar power plant projects, the project team implementing Mirka’s hybrid energy solution included over a dozen people from different stakeholder groups. Working with a larger group of experts than usual required strong project management skills from the people at Oomi.
“We worked closely with energy company Adven Oy, which was the client and end user for the electric boiler and solar power plant. Adven had a separate equipment supplier responsible for supplying the boiler. The process also involved communication with the transmission system operator, the local network operator and the building control authorities, as is usually the case with solar farm projects,” says Salmi.
The expert group, consisting of members from different parts of Finland, met weekly via Teams, and Salmi visited the construction site in Nykarleby every three to four weeks.
Production is regulated by a power limitation requirement
Currently, the solar farm is operating at about one third of its capacity. Preparations for full production are currently underway and final testing is being carried out.
“The power limitation requirement set by the transmission system operator Fingrid partly regulates the farm’s production capacity. A huge amount of wind power infrastructure has been built on the west coast, which means that the grid capacity is insufficient to receive more than one megawatt of power,” says Salmi.
The power limitation requirement is exceptional in Oomi’s solar power plant projects, as the aim is usually to obtain the maximum amount of solar energy.
The solar farm built by Oomi, together with the electric boiler supplied by Adven, improves Mirka’s energy efficiency and brings the company closer to its climate goals. It is estimated that the hybrid solution will reduce the carbon dioxide emissions from Mirka’s energy production by approximately 5,500 tonnes per year.