Better days are coming for wind as Sweden looks to have a capacity of 31GW
The giant Danish power company Ørsted has applied for permission to build four more large-scale offshore wind farms around Sweden in the Baltic Sea. The planned wind farms will reach 15GW in capacity and will add to Ørsted’s Swedish portfolio of two other projects totaling 3GW.
Given that all necessary permits and authorizations are given to the Danish company, Ørsted aims to deliver the first of the six projects – Skåne Offshore Wind Farm – by 2029 with the other five by 2032. This will also represent Sweden’s first commercial offshore wind farm. At the end of 2022, the Skåne County Administrative Board approved the project as permit-eligible and sent the matter to the government for a final decision.
Full list of projects:
- Skåne Offshore Wind Park 1.5GW project (due in 2029)
- Gotland Offshore wind farm of 1.5 GW (due in 2032)
- Kattegat Offshore wind farm of 1.5 GW (due in 2032)
- Baltic Central Offshore 4GW wind farm (due 2032)
- Gävle East 5.5GW wind farm (due 2032)
- Gävle West 4.5GW wind farm (due in 2032)
Sweden’s electricity mix currently consists of approximately 43% hydropower, 30% nuclear power, 15% wind power, 7% bioenergy and a very small part from fossil fuels – less than 2%. With an installed capacity of just under 13GW of onshore wind turbines, the Scandinavian country could reach around 31GW of combined onshore and offshore capacity by 2032 if all the aforementioned farms are built to full capacity – enough to supply around half of the country’s electricity. Combined with the state’s hydropower capacity, most of its electricity could be generated from clean, sustainable sources, which could prompt the Swedish government to finally phase out nuclear reactors – a decision initially made in 1980 but eventually reversed in 2010.
The timeline for the projects may seem long, but Ørsted’s entire portfolio of upcoming projects in the North and Baltic Seas combined with supply chain issues, outdated infrastructure and permissive delays puts this into context. The known issues, which have recently troubled the seas the wind industry is trying to navigate to help Europe achieve energy security, will be addressed by various measures around the world.
Meanwhile, the director of the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), Amanda Lefton, will step down from her position as Elizabeth Klein, a senior Interior Department official, will begin her term with a proposed rule change aimed at streamlining the costly and troublesome offshore wind power process in the US. The move is believed to potentially save the industry around $1 billion over the next 20 years.
Meanwhile, Scotland plans to raise its offshore wind target as it recently announced two ports on the Cromarty Firth have been awarded ‘green freeport’ status along with $64m in seed funding to develop next-generation manufacturing hubs. for the upcoming giga-scale development of offshore wind in the North Sea.
The next few years will be decisive, to say the least, not only for the wind industry but also for Europe as a whole. With favorable insolation only seen by southern countries such as Portugal, Spain and Italy, the northern countries of the continent will mostly rely on wind to assist hydropower – where applicable. Countries like the UK, for example, do not have much hydro capacity and will have to rely on North Sea wind power for most of their electricity mix.
A more detailed overview of the immediate future of the wind industry can be accessed via a research paper titled “Wind industry blown off course by recession – promises a full recovery. “