Sweden gives the go-ahead for an offshore wind farm to power 500,000 homes, Energy News, ET EnergyWorld
The government said that Vattenfall may build wind turbines with a total height of 280 meters at Kriegers Flak instead of the previous 170 meters and extended the license to 35 years from 30. The wind farm is expected to produce 2.3-2.8 TWh of electricity each year.
“Wind power far out at sea will be crucial to strengthen Sweden’s energy supply in the future,” said Minister of Energy and Digital Development Khashayar Farmanbar in a statement.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has given rise to European plans to move from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources.
Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark on Wednesday promised to build at least 150 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind capacity in the North Sea by 2050 to create a “green power plant” for Europe.
Sweden’s electricity comes almost exclusively from nuclear power, hydropower and wind power already, but the government expects a large increase in energy demand in the coming years and plans to increase offshore wind power production by about 90 TWh as part of the plans to reach net zero emissions by 2045.
Sweden produced approximately 166 TWh of electricity in 2021, according to Swedish Energy, of which 27.5 TWh came from wind power.