Eco Energy World (EEW) claims to have become the largest solar cell developer in Sweden after reaching 290MW projects in an advanced development phase in the country.

After announcing its entry into the Swedish solar energy sector only last year, EEW now has a PV project pipeline in the country of a total of 485 MW at 14 locations.

The portfolio of 290 MW of subsidy-free projects in advanced stages consists of seven plants, where the majority will be in operation within two years and a few smaller plants in the next 12 months.

EEW’s CEO Svante Kumlin told PV Tech that the company is currently in the process of negotiating withdrawal agreements, with many of the projects in advanced stages expected to be backed by company agreements on power purchases.

“We would like to wait as long as possible because power prices are going up, so we think it’s a better strategy not to get involved and register something at this point,” he said.

The seven sites will be built in a southern part of Sweden that was recently hit by power outages and are positioned to give a boost to the country’s electricity network in the right places while helping it reach a net zero target for 2045, says EEW.

Kumlin said that although the development of solar projects in Sweden is not more difficult than in other European countries, the grid connection is still “quite slow”.

According to EEW, Sweden’s deployed solar energy capacity is expected to triple to 3.5 GW by 2030. The latest announcements from developers in the country’s solar energy sector have seen Alight reveal plans for three photovoltaic plants with a total capacity of 90MW and Helios Nordic Energy is preparing to invite investors for to finance projects in southern Sweden.

EEW’s Swedish solar energy escalation complements its global 7.4GW development pipeline. A significant project was announced by the company earlier this year which will involve building 300MW of solar energy co-located with a 200MW hydrogen plant and a 100MW energy storage system in Australia.