Sweden to install 750 MW of new solar in 2022 – pv magazine International
Sweden’s annual PV capacity addition could grow by about 33% to 750 MW this year, from 500 MW in 2021, according to Becquerel Sweden. The large-scale solar market will contribute up to 150 MW, and the segment is expected to grow significantly after 2022.
Sweden could potentially add 750 MW of solar energy in 2022, according to data from the analysis company Becquerel Sweden. In 2021, the country added 499.7 MW of solar power, up about 25% year-on-year from 2020.
The International Energy Agency Photovoltaic Power Systems Programs (IEA-PVPS) task 1 recently published a Report on PV applications in Sweden in 2021. While PV systems for self-consumption dominate Sweden’s solar energy market, unsubsidized utility-scale solar parks are beginning to emerge. Becquerel estimates that between 110 MW and 150 MW of capacity will be added by the end of this year.
“When we collected the data, we conducted interviews, and the general word from the developers is that major projects are being postponed until 2022, mainly due to supply chain constraints,” says Amelia Westerberg, PV market analyst at Becquerel Sweden and co-author of the report.
This growth has occurred despite the removal of solar energy from Swedish-Norwegian renewable electricity certificate system on 31 Dec 2021. The system works by trading electricity certificates, both Swedish and Norwegian, on the Nord Pool exchange at a price agreed between buyer and seller. The two countries release these certificates to renewable energy producers for each megawatt-hour they generate during the first 15 years of a plant’s life.
However, Solel had minimal market shares, so the removal of the subsidy did not appear to have a significant impact on the large-scale segment. A few non-subsidized projects are already under development in the country and their current growth in popularity is more likely linked to generally favorable conditions for solar energy.
Corporate power purchase agreements and PV cooperative models are expected to dominate the large-scale solar market, according to the IEA-PVPS.
“This market segment is now completely dependent on the offtakers buying PV-generated electricity above the spot market price, which they are often happy to do,” Westerberg said.
Despite the recent growth, extensive permitting processes are still an obstacle to rapid growth in the segment, according to Westerberg.
“Whether this is a short-term problem caused by inexperience with such processes in the decision-making institutions or whether it is a long-term problem for industry remains to be seen,” the IEA-PVPS team concluded.
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