The nation generated 27% of its energy from wind power in February following 26% in January, an energy think tank Ember found on Tuesday.
Sweden has extended its offshore wind capacity in recent years to 2.4GW; now only Germany has a higher wind capacity within the EU at 2.5GW. Sweden has doubled its wind capacity since 2018.
Nicolas Fulghum, an energy and climate data analyst with Ember, said that: “higher wind generation makes Sweden’s grid more resilient against droughts, and protects consumers from high costs. With policy ambition high to expand wind power further, Sweden is set for further benefits to costs, security and climate.”
Last year Sweden saw a 6% drop in hydropower output following droughts across Europe, but this fluctuation was made up for with wind power generation.
According to a report published by Ember last year, Sweden is one of only four out of the 27 EU countries currently on track to deliver sufficiently high annual wind capacity increases to align with the 1.5⁰C climate target. The other nations are Finland, Croatia and Lithuania.
According to Harriet Fox, author of the research, “Europe needs to urgently buckle down on removing permitting barriers to unleash the full potential of renewables”.
Sweden’s clean energy targets are ambitious, as the nation seeks to generate 100% of its energy by renewable sources by 2050.
In 2021 the EU deployed 34GW of wind and solar combined, but according to Ember, the world will need to add 76GW of capacity in order to keep global heating within 1.5⁰C.
According to power-technology.com. Source of photos: internet
