Sweden will install more windmills to meet increasing demand 

Sweden has to install at least 200 new windmills every year till 2020 to meet the demand from the European Union which requires a higher proportion of renewable energy, according to the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet report.

The EU’s goal is to increase renewable energy from 40% to 49% by 2020. That means Swedish wind energy must increase 25 times from the current SEK 1 Twh.

“We are seeing record growth in investments in wind power. We are now working to catch up in an area where Sweden has fallen behind and that has been neglected much too long. Investments in wind power are crucial as part of the EU mission for the climate and renewable energy,” says Minister for the Environment Andreas Carlgren.

But Sweden meets similar problems in windenergy production, according to Swedish wind energy company chief Matthias Rapp.

“It is still very expensive to produce wind power, thus it is hard to be on its own and it needs subsidies from the government.”

Rapp said that the current certificate will last till 2016, but after that, it needs to renew it to 2020.

Sweden has decided to install more turbines in the whole country which has an area of 450,000 sqare kilometers. From south to north and from forests to the sea, windpower will be enlarged.

Another reason for the expansion is the demand of electricity from electric cars. Sweden has encouraged ‘green cars’ production by giving buyers subsidies, exempt of carbon tax and free parking. As a result more electric cars are produced and need wind power.

At Stora Middelgrund in the Kattegatt, some 30 kilometers west of the Halland coast in the Swedish economic zone, the government has approved to establish a large wind farm by Universal Wind Offshore AB(Company). Its annual capacity will be 3 TWh of electricity which is twice as much as the country´s total electricity production from wind power in 2007.

The wind farm will consist of a maximum of 108 wind turbines with a total height of no more than 200 metres and an installed output of approximately 860 MW, according to the local media.

Meanwhile, the decision sets out conditions to ensure the environment is protected. The company has to consult the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and the county administrative board about the placement of each individual wind turbine.

The company must get approval before it starts construction and installation. It has also to investigate the impact of the facility on seabed fauna, marine mammals, birdlife, fish stocks and fishing.

Early in June, , the world’s third largest marine wind power park in Lillgrund in Malmö was inaugurated by King Carl XVI Gustaf.

All 48 wind turbines in Lillgrund’s wind power park are now connected up to the electricity grid and produce renewable household power for more than 60 000 homes.

Currently Germany is the largest country which uses most of wind power in the world. It produces 22247 mw in 2007 while the USA, Spain, India and China are the following top 4. Their production are 16818 mw, 15145mw, 8000mw and 6050mw respectively.

By Xuefei Chen
People’s Daily Online correspondent in Stockholm

People’s Daily Online (China)

24 June 2008