Wind projects under threat as armed forces claim airspace

SEVERAL wind farm projects in Sweden are under threat due to the Government’s decision to reserve more airspace for its armed forces, say two companies and an industry lobby group.

In November, the Government said its air force had labelled more airspace as lowflying zones in order to protect its operations from the expanding wind power industry.

The move, to avoid planes colliding with wind turbines, has created uncertainty for several planned wind farms.

Sweden’s largest utility, Vattenfall, said the decision affected at least four of its projects, which together could generate around 1GW of power.

‘‘Such projects would lose the permits and couldn’t be built,’’ spokesman Peter Stedt said, referring to two of the projects that have been approved.

In all, some 2.8GW of planned wind power production could be cancelled, according to industry lobby Svensk Vindenergi, equivalent to 42% of Sweden’s current wind production.

Around 1GW of that related to wind farms with permits, and 1.8GW to projects awaiting approval, it said.

Eolus Vind, which builds wind farms and has projects under consideration in the affected areas, said it needed more clarity from authorities.

‘‘Clarification is important so that developers do not spend money on projects that have a low chance of being permitted due to the views of the armed forces,’’ said spokesman Johan Hammarqvist.

Energy Minister Ibrahim Baylan said projects that had been approved should not be affected.

Sweden aimed to meet its energy needs without producing globalwarming carbon dioxide by 2040, and defence interests should be balanced with energy targets, he added.

But Svensk Vindenergi said several companies with approved farms would have to reapply for permits because they needed to build turbines that were higher than originally planned, and were therefore at risk of being refused.

‘‘Many of the permitted parks have a maximum height of 150m. In general, at least 200m is needed to reach the wind needed to be able to realise the project with today’s low price on electricity and certificates,’’ said Hallberg.

Some projects could still be considered in the newly designated areas, the armed forces said.

‘‘In some cases, the thorough analysis that is always performed might conclude that a wind power project can coexist in some specific areas,’’ its press office told Reuters.

According to Svensk Vindenergi, the Government’s decision affects 45% of Sweden’s territory, up from 30% before.

The energy ministry and the armed forces did not provide their own calculations of the area affected. The military said the information was classified. — Reuters