While community opposition often blocks or hampers new wind power projects, Sweden has managed to break ground for Europe’s largest wind park counting more than 1,000 giant turbines, who protest by the whispers of their blades.
The giant wind farm from MARKBYGDEN area- covering more than 500 square kilometers, or the equivalent of five times the size of Paris – is being built in a virtually uninhabited, desolate stretch of Sweden’s great north.
The MARKBYGDEN project is a joint development of two companies: SVEVIND AB (Tavelsjø/Sweden) and has 75% of the project and ENERCON GmbH (Aurich/ Germany) which has a 25% share. They will build a wind tower production plant in the region and also a local office for service and maintenance.
This two companies will also be joint operators of the Dragaliden wind farm in the long term. The delivery of electricity and green certificates will take place within the scope of a power purchase agreement. An important financial incentive is the funding provided by the national quota and certificate trading system, and the allocation of investment grants due to the particularly challenging location.
The DRAGALIDEN wind park is a pilot project for the MARKBYGDEN project, which will comprise in the future up to 1,101 wind energy plants with a total rated power of up to 4,000 MW, delivering an overall yearly output of between 8 and 12 TWh. A unique wind speed measuring programme in the projected territory of MARKBYGDEN documented the favorable wind conditions in the region. Within the scope of the programme, several wind speed measuring masts with heights up to 150 meters were deployed.
The outside capital of around EUR 30 million will be provided by KfW IPEX Bank (Frankfurt/Main, Germany). Total investment will come to around EUR 43 million. A part of the capital will be provided by the Swedish energy agency and their subsidy programme for wind energy ‘Storskalig vindkraft i norra Sverige’.
“If I was to try the same thing in Germany, it would take me 20 years to get everyone’s agreement,” Wolfgang Kropp, the German head of the project, told AFP.
The project will be the largest wind farm in Europe which will contribute towards lowering emissions and the mitigation of climate change.
