Swedish wind power production will increase by 70% by 2024 – agency
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OSLO, March 14 (Reuters) – Wind power production in Sweden is expected to increase by about 70% by 2024 compared to last year’s level in the middle of a boom of capacity additions, the Swedish Energy Agency said in an analysis published on Monday.
Wind power production is expected to increase from 27.4 terawatt hours (TWh) in 2021 to 46.9 TWh in 2024, driven by a sharp expansion of installed capacity, according to a two-year forecast published by the state-appointed authority.
In 2021, Sweden installed 2.1 gigawatts (GW) of new wind power capacity, which corresponds to 6.8 TWh of normal annual production, according to industry figures.
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The total net electricity production will increase from 165.7 TWh to 183.5 TWh during the same period, which also means a tripling of solar production from 1.1 TWh to 3 TWh, the Swedish Energy Agency’s data showed.
Hydropower and nuclear power remain Sweden’s largest and second largest source of electricity production, with a steady 66 TWh and 52 TWh during the period.
Sweden’s net exports of electricity are expected to increase from 25.6 TWh to 41.4 TWh between 2021 and 2024, although this figure may be smaller if consumption increases faster than expected, the authority says.
Power demand from the transport sector should increase from 3.2 TWh to 4.9 TWh over the next three years, while industrial electricity consumption is expected to grow from 46.5 TWh to 47.8 TWh.
However, the latter figure only includes projects that are fully permitted and can increase by 7.6 TWh if larger projects are approved, the agency added.
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Reporting by Nora Buli, editing by Terje Solsvik
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