Wind Energy in Sweden to Rise by 70% in Next Three Years

Swedish Energy Agency – a government appointed agency – has published its biannual forecast report where it has said that Sweden will expand its wind power comprehensively. The published analysis says that Sweden is expected to increase the wind power generation by more than 70 per cent by 2024 compared with the level of 2021. The move comes even as Europe as a whole looks to push even harder for cutting its dependence on fossil fuels, not just for the earth, but to cut down dependence on Russian oil and gas.

The agency says in the report that Sweden’s wind generated electricity will rise from 27.4 terawatt hours (TWh) in 2021 to 46.9 TWh in 2024. This will happen due to expansion of installed wind turbine capacity. The total installed wind power capacity was 2.1 GW in 2021 which equals 6.8 TWh of normal annual production.

The Swedish Energy Agency also predicts that solar power production will rise from 1.1 TWh to 3 TWh by 2024.

The agency also says that the share of hydro-power will be the largest in Sweden with 66 TWh in the coming three years. Nuclear power will remain second-largest sources of electricity generation at a steady 52 TWh over the said period.

The data shows that net electricity generation will increase from 165.7 TWh to 183.5 TWh by 2024. The report finds that the net power exports from Sweden may go up from 25.6 TWh to 41.4 TWh between 2021 and 2024. The agency holds that the exports may be arrested if the domestic consumption increases.

The home consumption of power will also rise but not dramatically. The report finds that the transport sector’s power demand may increase from 3.2 TWh to 4.9 TWh in the coming three years. Swedish industries too will have an increased power demand from 46.5 TWh to 47.8 TWh.

Just last month, the Government identified three new zones for the offshore wind energy development which will deliver 30TWh of power every year to Sweden. The new zones are found in the Baltic Sea, the North Sea and the Gulf of Bothnia.

Sweden based oil company Lundin Energy is also investing heavily in the renewables and mainly in wind energy. Lundin is half owner in the 132MW Metaalamminkangas wind farm, completely owns 86MW Karskruv wind farm and 50% stake in the 77MW Leikanger hydro project.