Markbygden Wind Farm

The Markbygden Wind Farm will be a series of interconnected wind farms in the Markbygden area west of Piteå, Norrbotten county in northern Sweden. The project is expected to be completed by 2022 and might have a capacity of up to 4,000 megawatts (MW), comprising up to 1,101 wind turbines. The project was initially co-developed by Svevind AB and wind turbine manufacturer Enercon.[1]

History (until December 2015)

The original plan was forged amongst Svevind and Enercon. If fully constructed, the 55 billion kronor (€5.1 billion, US$6.9 billion) project would be the largest onshore wind farm in Europe and one of the biggest in the world. The wind farm will cover some 450 square kilometers, comprising up to 1 101 wind turbines and is expected to produce up to 12 TWh/year of electricity. The project received the approval by the Norrbotten County authorities in April 2009. On 4 March 2010 the Swedish Government decided to permit Markbygden Vind AB to build and run up to 1 101 wind turbines with a maximum height of 200 meters in the Markbygden area of Piteå Municipality.

As of July 2010, after a call for tender, a specialized environmental impact studies group has started to investigate all environmental and socio-economic issues for the first phase of the grand windfarm in order to get final approval. This phase 1 is called "Markbygden Etapp 1". The final approval was given on 19 December 2011. Markbygden phase 1 involves about 1000 MW nominal power, up to 314 wind turbines, and can reach up to a 3.0 TWh/year production.

Status as of September 2019

Phase 1

Phase 1 consists of three wind farms or projects;[2] 229,1 MW Ersträsk,[3] 644,4 MW Markbygden ETT,[4] and 84,6 MW Skogberget,.[5] Markbygden ETT was sold by Svevind to others. Ersträsk is developed by wind turbine manufacturer Enercon.

The first wind farm in Markbygden's phase 1 project was commissioned in 2014 and consists of 36 turbines, Enercon E-92 with 138m hub height. From December 2015 Svevind and Enercon set up a new structure. With that Enercon was taking over Svevind's shares of the operational Skogberget wind farm and the partially commenced Ersträsk wind farm.

Additional 179 turbines which will complete phase 1, have been taken over by Svevind for both project ownership and realisation. This windfarm project is called Markbygden ETT ("ETT" means one in Swedish language) and will be, once realized, one of the largest single onshore wind farms in Europe. In November 2017 this project reached financial close and will be realized by a joint venture of GE Energy Financial Services (GE EFS) and Green Investment Group Limited (part of Macquarie Group). GE Renewable Energy will supply 179 of its 3.63 MW wind turbines with 137 meter rotors. The wind farm is expected to begin commissioning in the second half of 2018 and be fully operational by the end of 2019.

All power generated by the entire Markbygden phase 1 wind farms will be transferred to the existing Råbäcken transformer station for transmission to the Swedish 400kV national grid.

Phase 2

Markbygden phase 2 is the westernmost part of the wind power project in Markbygden with an area that covers about 160 km2. On December 10, 2015, the Environmental Court ruled on this second phase of the Markbygden project. The decision has gained legal force. This second phase will be connected to a new 400kV transformer station called Trolltjärn. The Markbygden phase 2[6] project is developed by Enercon since December 2015. The installed capacity may be as large as 844 MW.

Credit Suisse acquired 85% of the 63-turbine northern project in 2020.[7]

Phase 3

Markbygden phase 3 is the third, last and potentially the largest part of the overall wind power project in Markbygden. It is located between the villages of Koler and Långträsk in the western part of the project and Blåsmark to the east, entirely within Piteå municipality. The area of Markbygden phase 3 is approximately 33.5 km long and 2.5–6 km wide. The area is about 150 km2 in total. The wind farm of Markbygden phase 3 will consist of up to 442 wind turbines. The permit was granted on March 17, 2016. The decision of the Environmental impact assessment committee was appealed, after which the Land and Environmental Court announced a decision on the case on June 16, 2017. The decision of the Land and Environmental Court has thereafter been appealed to the Land and Environmental Superior Court, which approved it in 2018.[8] The Markbygden phase 3 wind farms are planned to be connected to the existing 400kV transformer station Råbäcken as well the transformer station Trolltjärn, under construction by Swedish TSA Svenska Kraftnät. A 750 MW share of phase 3 was acquired by German asset manager Luxcara in April 2019.[9]

See also

References
  1. "Projects – Svevind AB". Svewind AB. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
  2. "Etapp 1 - Svevind". Retrieved 2019-03-14.
  3. "Ersträsk - Svevind". Retrieved 2019-03-14.
  4. "Markbygden ETT - Svevind". Retrieved 2019-03-14.
  5. "Skogberget - Svevind". Retrieved 2019-03-14.
  6. "Etapp 2 - Svevind". Retrieved 2019-03-14.
  7. "Swiss investor acquires majority share in Swedish Markbygden Phase II project". www.windtech-international.com.
  8. "M 6331-17 - Mark- och miljööverdomstolen". 2018. Retrieved 2019-03-14.
  9. "Luxcara News Önusberget". 2019. Retrieved 2019-09-19.

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