Sweden has rejected applications to build 13 offshore wind farms in the Baltic Sea due to defense concerns, the government said on Monday.
Defence Minister Pål Jonson told a press conference that building wind farms in the Baltic Sea would pose defense risks, not least by making it harder to detect and shoot down missiles using Sweden’s Patriot batteries in case of a conflict.
Jonson said Baltic wind farms could halve the time Sweden had to react to a missile attack to just one minute. Sweden's capital is just 500 kilometers (311 miles) from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.
“In the current, very serious international security climate with Sweden where it is and with Kaliningrad where it is... the Swedish armed forces judge it would bring unacceptable risks and the government also has that view,” Jonson told reporters.
The decision raises questions over how Sweden can meet its plans to double annual electricity production to around 300 terawatt-hours (TWh) over the next two decades.
Demand is expected to soar as the industry and transport sector phase out fossil fuels. Plans for “green” production of steel, batteries and fertilizers in the Arctic north also depend on plentiful cheap, clean electricity.
The government's plan is to build nuclear power. It aims to have an additional 2,500 megawatts of nuclear power by 2035 and 10 new reactors a decade later, but critics say demand is expected to rise faster than new reactors can be built.
Wind power, almost exclusively land-based, accounted for 21% of Sweden's electricity generation in 2023. Hydropower provides around 40% and nuclear 29%.
Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said in October that the country’s offshore wind farms will produce four times more energy than the planned nuclear power plant in northern Poland.
Tusk added that there is no need to build many new wind turbines, as upgrading them could increase their power output.
He pointed out that modernizing the energy grid and securing financial partners for a second nuclear plant will be crucial for Poland's energy future.
The prime minister said that his government plans to invest 70 billion złoty (€16.3 billion) over the next decade to upgrade Poland’s energy transmission networks.
Jonson said Baltic wind farms could halve the time Sweden had to react to a missile attack to just one minute. Sweden's capital is just 500 kilometers (311 miles) from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.
“In the current, very serious international security climate with Sweden where it is and with Kaliningrad where it is... the Swedish armed forces judge it would bring unacceptable risks and the government also has that view,” Jonson told reporters.
The decision raises questions over how Sweden can meet its plans to double annual electricity production to around 300 terawatt-hours (TWh) over the next two decades.
Demand is expected to soar as the industry and transport sector phase out fossil fuels. Plans for “green” production of steel, batteries and fertilizers in the Arctic north also depend on plentiful cheap, clean electricity.
The government's plan is to build nuclear power. It aims to have an additional 2,500 megawatts of nuclear power by 2035 and 10 new reactors a decade later, but critics say demand is expected to rise faster than new reactors can be built.
Wind power, almost exclusively land-based, accounted for 21% of Sweden's electricity generation in 2023. Hydropower provides around 40% and nuclear 29%.
Poland upgrading wind farms
Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said in October that the country’s offshore wind farms will produce four times more energy than the planned nuclear power plant in northern Poland.
Tusk added that there is no need to build many new wind turbines, as upgrading them could increase their power output.
He pointed out that modernizing the energy grid and securing financial partners for a second nuclear plant will be crucial for Poland's energy future.
The prime minister said that his government plans to invest 70 billion złoty (€16.3 billion) over the next decade to upgrade Poland’s energy transmission networks.
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