Vattenfall, Vestas and OX2 add 600MW onshore wind to Swedish grid

Sweden has added more than 600MW to its wind power capacity, with two new projects being fully commissioned and connected to the grid that together are expected to generate 1.9TWh annually.

The larger site was Vattenfall and Vestas’ 353MW Blakliden-Fäbodberget development – which Vattenfall also claimed as its largest onshore wind farm to date (despite the fact that it is technically two separate wind farms: Blakliden and Fäbodberget). 

Vattenfall owns 30% of the new wind complex, with the remainder owned by pension fund PKA (30%) and Vestas (40%). Vestas also supplied the project’s 84 V136-4.2MW turbines. 

Vattenfall said the location of the wind farm in the Åsele and Lycksele municipalities, towards the north of Sweden, was important because electricity demand is growing in the region as mining and other local industries are electrified. “We can thus supply fossil-free electricity to an expanding region with an industry on the rise,” said Helene Biström, Vattenfall’s senior vice president and head of wind.

The project followed close behind OX2’s second largest wind farm in Sweden, which was recently handed over to its owner, investment house Ardian. 

The 286MW Åndberg Åndberg (286MW) OnshoreHärjedalen, Västernorrland County, Sweden, Europe Click to see full details project consists of 53 of Nordex’s N149/5.X turbines.

OX2, which now has 1,352 MW of wind capacity under construction, acquired the project in 2018 and in 2019 it was sold to Ardian, with OX2 retained as engineer, procure and construct contractor. 

OX2 will have responsibility for technical and commercial management of the wind farm, bringing its total under such management to 3.2GW.

Sweden installed the most onshore wind capacity in Europe last year, according to industry group WindEurope. It expects the Nordic country to commission about 2.2GW of onshore wind capacity this year.