Sweden Greenlights Two, Rejects 11 Offshore Wind Farms Over Defence Concerns; Vattenfall Halts Approved Project?

The Swedish government has approved two offshore wind projects in the country’s exclusive economic zone while rejecting eleven others, completing decisions on all offshore wind permit applications that had been under review.

The approved projects are Fyrskeppet Offshore, located around 54 kilometres east of Söderhamn in the southern Gulf of Bothnia, and Vidar, planned around 35 kilometres southwest of Strömstad in the northern Skagerrak.

Fyrskeppet Offshore, being developed by Skyborn Renewables, has been authorised to install up to 93 wind turbines and is expected to generate 8 TWh to 11 TWh of electricity annually, according to the government. According to earlier information about the project, it has been planned to comprise 187 turbines that would together have a generation capacity of around 2.8 GW.

The 2 GW Vidar, developed by Vattenfall and Zephyr, would comprise up to 75 turbines with an expected annual generation of up to 7.8 TWh.

Shortly after receiving the green light for the Vidar project, Vattenfall CEO Anna Borg was cited by Reuters as saying the company would not proceed with the offshore wind farm at this time because current market conditions do not make it commercially viable.

Under the permits, both offshore wind farms must be completed within ten years, by 2036. Before construction can begin, the developers will also need to obtain permits for the installation of the subsea export cables required to connect the projects to Sweden’s onshore transmission grid.

At the same time, the government rejected permit applications for Bothnia Offshore Lambda North, Bothnia Offshore Sigma, Eystrasalt Offshore, Gretas Klackar 1, Gävle Öst Havsvindpark, Mareld, Najaderna, Olof Skötkonung, Polargrund Offshore, Sylen, and Västvind.

According to the government, the rejected projects would have an unacceptable impact on Sweden’s defence capabilities. In the decision letters for the rejected project applications, the government states that the Swedish Armed Forces had concluded that these wind farms would conflict with areas designated as being of national interest for the country’s military defence.

The government said that, despite the projects’ contribution to fossil-free electricity generation and the proposed mitigation measures, current conditions do not allow them to proceed due to the areas’ importance for defence interests. As a result, the applications were rejected, and the associated requests for permits to install subsea cables under the Continental Shelf Act were dismissed without further examination.

However, the government said the refusals did not permanently exclude these sea areas from future offshore wind development. Instead, they could be reconsidered once Sweden transitions to an auction-based system for offshore wind.

The latest decisions follow the government’s earlier approvals of the Kattegatt Syd, Galene, and Poseidon offshore wind farms, with the latter approved in November 2024, when the government rejected 13 other applications, also citing conflict with defence interests.

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