Onshore wind companies in Sweden believe the recently announced plans for offshore wind tenders are “an expensive as well as unnecessary way” to boost the use of renewables.
The Swedish Energy Agency has identified the auctions concept as the most suitable option to support the offshore wind sector. Under it, developers will specify in their bids what compensation they need on-top of electricity prices, to make their projects profitable.
Wind power company Arise AB (STO:ARISE) said on Friday, speaking on behalf of a group of Swedish wind firms and landowners, that the country has the perfect conditions for expanding its onshore wind capacity, saving “hundreds of billions of kronor” which would be needed for wind at sea. “With a strong electricity grid, a sparsely populated country and good wind resources, Sweden has every opportunity to increase the expansion of onshore wind power,” Arise AB commented.
At present, offshore wind parks in Sweden receive electricity certificates, as all other renewable power plants do, which are tradable separately from the produced power. However, the revenue from these certificates is not sufficient to support wind farms at sea.
According to figures by the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), Sweden had 5,425 MW of wind power capacity at end-2014, including just 211.7 MW offshore. Neighbouring Denmark had 1,270.6 MW of offshore wind at the end of the year.
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