Sweden will host the world’s largest single offshore wind farm
Stockholm-based wind farm and solar energy developer OX2 has applied for a permit to build a massive 5.5 gigawatt (GW) offshore wind farm in the Baltic Sea. If approved, it will be the largest single offshore wind farm in the world.
The world’s largest single offshore wind farm
Ørsted’s Hornsea in the North Sea has a total capacity of 7.5 GW, but it consists of four separate offshore wind farms. The Swedish offshore wind farm, which will be called Aurora, will be larger than 4.8 GW Dogger Bank, which is located off the coast of Yorkshire in the UK and will be completed in 2026.
Aurora will be placed in Swedish economic zoneabout 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) from the island of Gotland and 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) from the island of Öland.
The $ 18 billion offshore wind farm will have up to 370 wind turbines with a maximum elevation of 370 meters (1,213 feet). For perspective, the Empire State Building is 381 meters, or 1,250 feet high.
OX2 does not specify which wind turbines it will use in its announcement. The tallest turbines currently available are 242 meters (794 feet) high and manufactured by MingYang Smart Energy.
This is where it will be amazing: Aurora’s electricity production will be about 24 terawatt hours (TWh) per year. That is enough for about 5 million households, or about 17% of the total electricity consumption in Sweden. (That’s why I’m a wind nerd at sea.)
The wind farm’s first construction phase is expected to begin in 2028. Aurora is expected to start producing energy in 2030.
OX2 states that they have previously applied for a Natura 2000 permit for Aurora. As the European Commission’s website explaining“Natura 2000 sites have been specifically designated to protect the core areas of a subset of species or habitat types listed in the Habitats and Birds Directives.”
At the end of the first quarter of 2022, OX2 has 11.7 GW of renewable electricity projects under development in Sweden.
Photo: Joakim Lagercrantz / OX2
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