Wind Power in Sweden

Wind Power In Sweden

Sweden consumes about 150 terawatt hours of electricity per year, of which about 6 TW·h is generated from domestic wind power resources. Several times as much is imported from Denmark, which generates a considerable amount of surplus wind power. Two large projects are under development, which could dramatically increase wind power in Sweden.

Swedish package and paper products company Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget and Norwegian power company Statkraft will invest 16 billion kronor (€1.73 billion; US$2.4 billion) in a project which will consist of around 400 wind turbines in seven wind farms in Jämtland and Västernorrland counties. Statkraft will provide financing and SCA the land.

"... the wind power venture would involve production of 2,800 gigawatt hours, or GWh, of wind power electricity a year, accounting for between two to three percent of Sweden's electricity production."

The Markbygden Wind Farm will be a series of wind farms in Norrbotten County. The project will be built by 2020, and will have a capacity of up to 4 GW. If built out, the 55 billion kronor (€5.1 billion, US$6.9 billion) project will be the largest wind farm in Europe. The wind farm will cover some 450 square kilometres, comprising about 1,100 wind turbines, and is expected to produce up to 12 TW·h of electricity per year (i.e. an average power of up to 1.4 GW).