Swedish utility plans largest windfarm in northern Europe
STOCKHOLM, Sweden, June 8, 2005 (Refocus Weekly)
Vattenfall wants to build the largest windfarm in northern Europe at a cost of 8 billion Swedish crowns.
The state-owned utility wants to install 100 to 150 turbines in the Swedish
part of Kriegers Flak, a shallow area in the Baltic Sea between Germany and
Sweden. The total output of the offshore facility would be 500 to 640 MW, with
annual generation of 2 TWh of green power.
“Vattenfall has worked with the development of wind power technology for
large-scale, offshore generation for many years; now we have the chance to
establish large-scale wind power generation on a commercial basis,” says Hans
von Uthmann of Vattenfall Nordic. “This will provide a significant
contribution to our other electricity generation capacity and to the development
of wind power technology.”
The utility hopes to be awarded the concession for construction of the windfarm
next year, but procurement cannot begin until the application has been granted.
Once it has the concession, construction could begin in 2009 with completion
within a year.
It recently purchased Sweden Offshore AB from two German companies and Östersjöns
Vindkrafts from Fred Olsen in acquisitions worth SEK 100 million.
Vattenfall is Europe's fifth-largest generator of electricity and the largest
producer of heat, with operations in Sweden, Finland, Germany and Poland. It
generates 167 TWh a year of electricity and 35 TWh of heat, with annual net
sales of SEK 113 billion, and recently closed its Barseback nuclear reactor in
Sweden.
The utility also acquired 60% of the Horns Rev windfarm in a deal with Danish
power company Dong, under which Vattenfall will establish a presence in the
cogeneration and wind power sectors in Denmark. It will swap shares with Danish
utility Elsam for 2,400 MW of power capacity in Denmark, in order to increase
development of wind power and bioenergy in nordic countries. The deal also
includes Elsam's onshore wind assets.
“This structure will ensure that we acquire new competence and greater
resources in the Nordic operations so that we can continue the development of
environment-friendly, sustainable energy solutions such as wind power, bioenergy
and the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions,” says president Lars Josefsson.
“Our move into the CHP and wind power sectors in Denmark represents an
important strategic investment in our Nordic operations.”
The investment will supplement a SEK 1.5 billion plan to build a 330 GWh
windfarm in Oresund sound between Sweden and Denmark.
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