The Swedish government has granted permission to Vattenfall and OX2 to build two offshore wind projects. Vattenfall received approval for its 1.2 GW Kattegatt Syd offshore wind farm, and OX2 for the northern, 400 MW part of its Galatea-Galene project.
OX2’s and Ingka Investments’ Galatea-Galene offshore wind project consists of two sub-areas located in Kattegatt, about 25 kilometres outside the cities of Falkenberg and Varberg, both in the Swedish county of Halland. The entire development is planned to have 101 wind turbines and a capacity of up to 1.7 GW, and to be built and operated without subsidies.
The northern part, now approved for construction by the government, is Galene, which is proposed to comprise 21 turbines.
OX2 applied for a Natura 2000 permit with the County Administrative Board of Halland and submitted an application under the Act on Sweden’s Exclusive Economic Zone to construct Galatea-Galene in late 2021, and for a permit under the Continental Shelf Act in early 2022.
In January this year, the County Administrative Board of Halland approved the entire 1.7 GW offshore wind project and recommended that the government grants the project permission to be built.
Vattenfall revealed that it was investigating the possibility of developing Kattegatt Syd (Kattegat South) back in 2020.
The project is also located in Kattegatt offshore Halland County, 25 kilometres outside Falkenberg, north of the Stora Middelgrund , another offshore wind farm Vattenfall is developing in the area.
Kattegatt Syd is planned to comprise 80 wind turbines that will make up for the wind farm’s installed capacity of 1.2 GW.
According to project details on Vattenfall’s website, with an estimated annual production of around 4.7 TWh, Kattegatt Syd would provide the equivalent of 2.5–3 per cent of Sweden’s current total electricity production.
The developer filed applications for permits under the Swedish Economic Zone and Natura 2000 Acts with the County Administrative Board of Halland in 2021 and was granted permissions in accordance with the Natura 2000 regulations in October 2022.