Eolus Files Revised Application for 1 GW Wind Project Offshore Sweden

February 28, 2024, by Adnan Memija

Sweden-based Eolus has submitted a permit application to build the 1 GW Blekinge offshore wind farm in southern Sweden.

The application for an environmental permit has been submitted to the Land and Environment Court in Växjö, according to the developer. An application was sent to the Ministry of Climate and Enterprise to conduct investigations on the seabed and lay underwater cables as well.

The applications, including an environmental impact assessment with accompanying investigations, will be sent out for consultation with stakeholders before a decision on the permit is made, said Eolus.

“The technical conditions are incredibly good with shallow waters and proximity to the power grid, which allows us to build with existing technology. This makes Blekinge Offshore an optimal project for those who want more electricity production and lower electricity prices in southern Sweden,” said Per Witalisson, CEO of Eolus.

Blekinge Offshore is owned by Eolus and the local company Vingkraft, which initiated the project.

The project is located at its closest about eleven kilometers from the mainland, and about five kilometers east of Hanö, in an area identified as suitable for energy production in the coastal plans of Blekinge’s coastal municipalities.

The offshore wind farm is planned to feature up to 70 wind turbines, installed on gravity-based bottom-fixed foundations. The production is expected to be approximately 4.3 TWh of renewable electricity per year and the construction start date is planned for 2027.

“We are now submitting a completely revised application to build Blekinge Offshore. The project is important for the future of the region, and we can build it without compromising the living creatures and valuable environments that exist in the sea,” said Anders Nilsson, CEO of Blekinge Offshore and initiator of the project.

In 2016, the Swedish Government rejected an earlier application in the area, citing the interests of the Swedish Armed Forces. The objections then concerned that the previous project area encroached on parts of a marine training area and that the distance between the wind turbines was too small.

Since 2021, a new project has been developed with 40 per cent less area, 90 per cent fewer turbines, and a quadrupled distance – which means two kilometres – between them, said Eolus.

Further measures to accommodate the Swedish Armed Forces have been developed in regional collaboration, according to the company.

“Together with the Blekinge Region and the municipalities of Kristianstad and Simrishamn, we have opened up to offer the Swedish Armed Forces an extended area for marine exercises in Hanö Bay,” said Birgit Birgersson-Brorsson (S), Chair of the Municipal Council in Sölvesborg, and Kith Mårtensson (M), Vice Chair of the Municipal Council in Sölvesborg.

“Our proposal for an expansion of 770 square kilometers corresponds to an area five times larger than Blekinge Offshore. From the perspective of the coastal municipalities and the region, we are very eager for the project to proceed.”

“We must stop putting different types of energy against each other and instead embrace every kWh that we can produce ourselves in electricity price area 4 – regardless of how it is produced. In this way, we create jobs instead of risking losing investments and establishments due to uncertainty in electricity supply and higher electricity prices than surrounding regions,” according to Johan Dalén, the regional director of the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise in Skåne and Blekinge.