Wind Power News: Sweden
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch to help keep readers informed about developments related to industrial wind energy. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of National Wind Watch. They are the products of and owned by the organizations or individuals noted and are shared here according to “fair use” and “fair dealing” provisions of copyright law.
Wind reliance could hamper Sweden’s winter power supplies
The rising share of intermittent wind power in Europe’s energy supplies and grid constraints could make it harder for Sweden to source power imports at peak demand times in winter, grid company Svenska kraftnaet said on Monday. Sweden may need to import up to 1,600 megawatts (MW) of electricity to cover peak consumption during a normal winter, roughly 6% of last winter’s peak demand of 25,500 MW, the transmission system operator (TSO) said in an annual review. This projection was little . . . Complete story »
Third crane accident hits project installing giant GE wind turbines to power Google
A third crane accident has hit a project to install GE Renewable Energy’s largest onshore turbine platform at a Swedish wind farm that will supply Google. No one was hurt in the latest incident at the 175MW Bjorkvattnet project almost 500km north of Stockholm, its developer told Recharge. The early April accident follows the collapse of a large crane amid severe weather in January that added to Covid-related delays at Bjorkvattnet, which is using GE’s 5.3MW Cypress turbines, and in . . . Complete story »
Sweden’s fading enthusiasm for onshore wind farms
MALUNG, Sweden – Sweden faces a looming green electricity shortage, but its plan to scale up wind power has hit a problem: resistance from Swedes who don’t want giant turbines as neighbors. Sweden, like a number of other northern European countries, sees wind power as a relatively cheap and quick way to move away from the fossil-fuel-driven power generation which has exacerbated the global climate crisis. The Nordic country plans to scale up its wind power capacity to 100 terawatt-hours by . . . Complete story »
Why even pristine Sweden struggles with green energy
As a world leader in renewable energy and a major exporter of low-carbon electricity, Sweden is among the green elite. Yet a cold snap provoked a political storm this winter when, in order to keep the lights on, the authorities started up a 52-year-old oil-fired power plant. A furious debate centered on the wisdom of decommissioning nuclear plants, and even the use of vacuum cleaners, exposing a divide over plans to rely more on wind power for everything from transport . . . Complete story »
Sweden’s power problems are down to grid manager: analysts
Bottlenecks have meant that power generated from the country’s vast hydroelectric resources and an expansion of wind power in the north hasn’t been able to reach consumers in the south. Instead, they are increasingly dependent on imports of fossil-fuel generated electricity from Germany, Denmark and Poland. Complete story »
Crane collapse delays wind farm using giant GE turbines to sell power to Google
A crane collapse and harsh weather conditions have delayed construction of a Swedish wind farm using GE Renewable Energy’s largest onshore turbine platform that will sell its power to Google. The collapse delayed installation work by a further three weeks at the 175MW Bjorkvattnet project almost 500km north of Stockholm, its developer confirmed. Nobody was hurt in the incident in mid-January, which added to delays already incurred through Covid disruption that pushed installation into the “difficult winter months”, said Flemming . . . Complete story »
Reindeer: ancient migration routes disrupted by roads, dams – and now wind farms
Reindeer, or caribou as they’re known in North America, are impressive travellers. Herds made up of many thousands of animals can cover 5,000km each year in the far north of Europe, Siberia and Canada. This is one of the longest land migrations on Earth – but an ongoing transformation of the Arctic landscape threatens to break it up. Roads, railways, mines and dams have disrupted the well-worn trails that reindeer follow each year, particularly across northern Europe. In one study, . . . Complete story »
Wind turbine maker Vestas halts V150s after Sweden collapse probe
Vestas has temporarily taken around 150 of its V150 machines out of service “in an abundance of caution” after identifying a blade fault as the cause of a turbine collapse in Sweden late last year. A investigation into the V150 4.2MW collapse at the Aldermyrberget wind farm found a bonding failure on blade-root inserts due to a manufacturing issue at a single supplier, confirmed a spokesman for the Danish wind giant. Vestas has halted around 150 of the turbines that could . . . Complete story »
Sami women, indigenous reindeer herders, are fighting for their ancestral lands
In northern Europe, where winter temperatures hover between -13 and -22 degrees Fahrenheit, reindeer roam an ancient pine forest that’s blanketed by snow. That might sound like a fantastical scene from a snow globe, but for the Sámi people, the Indigenous inhabitants of Arctic Sweden, Norway, Finland, and the Kola Peninsula in Russia, this is home. The expansive region, known as Sápmi, is their ancestral land—and herding reindeer there has been a form of survival for them since the prehistoric . . . Complete story »
Arctic turbulence: why Indigenous communities are fighting wind farms
The Arctic is experiencing climate change at a faster pace than the rest of the world. Having already had to adapt, the Indigenous people of Norway, Sweden, Finland and north-western Russia – the Saami – now face a new threat to their existence as industrial wind farms are constructed on their ancestral lands to supply the western world’s growing demand for green energy. Speaking at a panel on Indigenous self-governance in 2018, Aili Keskitalo, the president of the Saami Parliament . . . Complete story »
