EnergyOMNI's Perspectives｜Sweden Rejects Offshore Wind Farm Applications Again on National Defense Grounds

Edited by EnergyOMNI

The Swedish government announced on July 16 that it had approved two offshore wind farms while simultaneously rejecting applications for 11 other projects. The approved projects are the Fyrskeppet project, located in the Bothnian Sea with an installed capacity of 1.2 GW, and the Vidar project in the Northern Skagerrak with an installed capacity of 400 MW. Together, the two projects are expected to generate up to 19 TWh of electricity annually. The 11 rejected offshore wind applications were located in the Gulf of Bothnia, the Bothnian Sea, and Swedish western waters. The government justified the rejections by stating that these projects would have an unacceptable impact on Sweden's defense capabilities.

At the end of 2024, the Swedish government had already rejected applications for 13 offshore wind projects in the Baltic Sea on national defense grounds. At the time, an assessment by the Swedish Armed Forces found that offshore wind farms could delay Sweden's ability to respond to incoming missiles and affect the detection and monitoring of submarine activities in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea. Over the past two years, Sweden has rejected a total of 24 offshore wind projects. Media reports have noted that while offshore wind development has not been banned in Sweden and projects continue to move forward, progress has been slow, with development increasingly concentrated in areas that have passed military security reviews. Going forward, Sweden's offshore wind development will depend heavily on defense priorities and military risk assessments.

Green Power Sweden said that the rejected projects represented a combined potential annual electricity generation capacity of more than 275 TWh, which could undermine Sweden's future electricity supply targets. Its Chief Executive Officer, Nils Grunditz, also questioned the defense concerns, noting that other countries have already adopted technological solutions to address radar interference caused by offshore wind farms. He questioned why Sweden is significantly scaling back its offshore wind plans despite the availability of such mitigation measures elsewhere.

The Ministry of Climate and Enterprise stated that the government assessed that the proposed offshore wind activities would have an unacceptable impact on Sweden's defense capabilities. However, the ministry stressed that the decisions do not mean the affected sea areas will be permanently excluded from offshore wind development. The government also announced plans to replace the current open-door application system with an auction-based system. Under the new framework, the government would first designate suitable areas for offshore wind development, after which developers would compete for construction rights. These areas could therefore become eligible for development again in the future.

However, the Swedish government has not yet announced a specific timeline or detailed design for the transition to the auction system. The reintroduction of these areas into offshore wind planning may depend on the government first establishing clearer boundaries between areas prioritized for national defense and areas suitable for energy development, creating a spatial planning framework that allows renewable energy expansion to coexist with national security requirements.