Remote area connectivity: a windmill park use case
Despite advances in cellular technology, some areas and residents in northern Finland and Sweden suffer from limited connectivity that hinders daily activities, such as remote work and schoolwork at home, and work and free time activities in the outdoors.
The questionnaire and interviews in the Arctic 5G Test Network1 (ended) and Arctic 6G2 (ongoing) projects have revealed that although the connectivity problem is not a concern for the majority, it is still disturbing to those who suffer from it.
Windmill parks
One place where the maintenance teams have observed connectivity problems, affecting their working efficiency and potentially safety, is a windmill park near Piteå, Sweden, consisting of 550 mills and a hilly landscape. The connectivity is needed for staff driving and moving in the park area and on their way to/from there. In addition to the main fibre connection, a microwave link may be required to secure backup internet access if the fibre goes down.
Our initial work examined the possibility of using windmill towers as cellular towers. Offshore, the towers typically have terraces well above sea level, where antennas can be installed to form an inter-park network. Onshore, however, these terraces do not exist, which means alternative solutions are needed.
Another option is to mount the antennas on the nacelle, the rotating hub at the top of the windmill that carries the blades. This position provides practical benefits such as access, available electricity, and existing internet cabling. Its height, typically more than 100 metres, also improves radio propagation.
Developing the use of windmill towers as base stations requires further work. To support this effort, we conducted feasibility measurements on September 22–23, 2025.
Measurements in a windmill park
It is well established that wind farms, and even individual turbines, can interfere with radio propagation. The concrete and steel towers cause signal attenuation, while the rotating blades introduce additional disturbances. In radar applications, they are also known to create reflections.
Earlier studies have shown that signals passing through a wind farm can experience fades of 10–15 dB. To better understand conditions for equipment located inside the park, very close to a turbine, we carried out measurements near Piteå. Our initial results indicate that a single tower can cause about 20 dB of attenuation at 2.4 GHz and 3.8 GHz. The effect of blades appears milder. The whole concept still requires further analysis.
1,2 This work is part of the Arctic 6G project, funded by EU Interreg Nord, Interreg Aurora, and Lapin Liitto.
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About the author
Adjunct Professor