Wind power in Sweden
Sweden consumes about 150 terawatt hours of electricity per year,[1] of which about 17.5 TW·h[2] (12.4%) was generated from domestic wind power resources in 2017, up from 2.4% in 2010 and 0.3% in 2000.[3][4]
In its official forecast as of February 2019, the Swedish Wind Energy Association (SWEA) projects that cumulative wind power capacity in the country will rise to 12.8 GW by the end of 2022 - 91% higher than 2017's 6.7 GW.[5] Such an expansion could increase the share of Sweden's electricity use met by wind power to over 20%.
Statistics
Wind power in Sweden[6][7] | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Capacity (MW) |
Generation (GWh) |
Generation (% of usage)1 | |
2000 | 241 | 447 | 0.3% | |
2001 | 295 | 482 | 0.3% | |
2002 | 345 | 608 | 0.4% | |
2003 | 404 | 679 | 0.5% | |
2004 | 452 | 850 | 0.6% | |
2005 | 493 | 949 | 0.6% | |
2006 | 583 | 988 | 0.7% | |
2007 | 832 | 1,432 | 1.0% | |
2008 | 1,085 | 1,996 | 1.4% | |
2009 | 1,444 | 2,485 | 1.8% | |
2010 | 2,004 | 3,502 | 2.4% | |
2011 | 2,769 | 6,101 | 4.3% | |
2012 | 3,582 | 7,165 | 5.0% | |
2013 | 4,469 | 9,842 | 7.1% | |
2014 | 5,519 | 11,234 | 8.4% | |
2015 | 6,025 | 16,268 | 11.9% | |
2016 | 6,519 | 15,479 | 11.0% | |
2017 | 6,691 | 17,609 | 12.4% | |
1 Excluding exports
Future developments
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.[8]
- "... 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."[8]
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.[9] If built out, the 55 billion kronor (€5.1 billion, US$6.9 billion) project will be the largest wind farm in Europe.[10] 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).[11]
Controversy
The Association for Swedish Landscape Protection is in opposition to wind power.[12] Their chairman says:
It is beginning to get through, I think, that with the existing nuclear and hydro power available in Sweden, the role for intermittent wind power is marginal and primarily as an exercise in the following of ”fashion”. It has little to contribute to either generation capacity or transmission security. And it is expensive.
— Elisabeth von Brömsen, Public radio SR, March 2011
At the time of making the statement in 2011, wind power accounted for 4.3% of the electricity in Sweden as listed above. As of 2017 it accounted for 12.4%. Comparing the levelized cost of energy, as of November 2019 wind power was estimated at 28 to 54 USD per MWh, compared to 118 to 192 USD per MWh for nuclear power.[13]
See also
- List of wind farms in Sweden
- List of offshore wind farms in Sweden
- List of offshore wind farms in the Baltic Sea
- Renewable energy in Sweden
- Biofuel in Sweden
- Energy in Sweden
- Renewable energy by country
References
- "Electricity supply, district heating and supply of natural and gasworks gas 2010" (PDF). Statistics Sweden (SCB) & Swedish Energy Agency page 5. Statistics for year 2010. March 23, 2012. Retrieved 2012-11-07.
- http://www.nyteknik.se/tekniknyheter/article3963431.ece
- Swedish Energy Agency
- Energiläget i siffror 2014 18: Sveriges elproduktion per kraftslag och total elanvändning 1970–2012
- Svensk Vindenergi (2019-02-12). "Statistics and forecast - Q4 2018" (PDF). p. 12/15. Retrieved 2019-03-24.
- Energy in Sweden
- Statistics Sweden (2018-11-30). "Electricity supply and use 2001–2017 (GWh)". Retrieved 2019-03-24.
- Sweden's SCA, Norway's Statkraft in $2.4 billion wind power venture
- "Svevind and Enercon Team up for 4GW Wind Plan". Clean Edge (from New Energy Finance). June 26, 2008. Retrieved 2009-04-16.
- "Europe's biggest wind farm planned in Sweden". Agence France-Presse (AFP). April 6, 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-16.
- "Sweden looks to build world's largest wind farm". InTech. International Society of Automation (ISA). April 14, 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-16.
- http://www.nyteknik.se/nyheter/energi_miljo/vindkraft/article2498154.ece
- "Lazard's Levelized Cost of Energy" (PDF). p. 2. Retrieved November 29, 2019.