The Environmental court has said yes to the establishment of a large-scale offshore wind farm on Storgrundet. The wind farm will be maximum up to 265 MW distributed on 53 wind turbines. Electricity production is sufficient to provide 160 000 households with electricity. The project owner is wpd – one of Europe’s leading wind power developers. Offshore wind is currently the fastest growing energy source with the biggest potential. All over Europe thousands of MW is being built and a whole new industry with thousands of jobs becomes a reality – this could happen also in Sweden.

“Storgrundet has a good opportunity of becoming the next offshore wind farm being built in Sweden. The Storgrundet site has shallow water, good soil conditions and location close to the shore and these are important elements for an offshore wind project. We have the expertise and experience to be able to start building this project within two years if the economic conditions are in place”, says project manager Hans Ohlsson.

The construction of an offshore wind farm of this size would create more opportunities for local businesses in the municipality Söderhamn. “We are many in this region who worked for a long time to get this far. Many of my colleagues have a good reason to be happy today”, says Lennart Olsson, Vice Mayor of the Municipal Executive board of Söderhamn. “There is a big interest and engagement in issues concerning wind power and we feel very inspired to act as the hub in the development of wind power in our region.”

Today, the development of offshore wind is almost non-existent in Sweden.
In Germany, wpd is involved in the construction of the first commercial offshore wind farm.
 “We are ready for Sweden as well – now the policy must provide the right conditions if we want to continue to develop renewable energy and build an entirely new industry," says Göran Dalén, CEO.

Facts about the offshore wind farm Storgrundet:
The wind farm is located in a large shallow area  about 11 kilometers from the mainland, southeast of Söderhamn. The area is covered by Söderhamns Municipality’s master plan and is identified as national interest for wind use. Within the planning area, there is an opportunity to build a wind farm with a total power of up to 265 MW. The estimated annual production is expected to be up to 0,8 TWh (800 million kWh), equivalent to electricity for 160 000 households.

About wpd Scancinavia:
wpd Scandinavia AB based in Stockholm, is a wholly owned subsidiary within the wpd Group – one of Europe’s leading wind power operators with long experience in planning, financing and operation of various renewable energy projects since 1996. So far, wpd Group deployed around 1600 wind turbines with a total power of 2000 MW and is planning for additional 7000 MW worldwide. In Sweden, wpd is currently in the design and development of several onshore and offshore wind projects with a total effect of about 2000 MW, including two of the largest offshore wind farms, Finngrunden and Storgrundet. . Furthermore, with a pipeline of 10,000 MW, wpd is Europe’s leading developer of offshore wind farms. One of the first commercial offshore wind farms, Baltic I, is being supervised by wpd and currently in installation process

Contact: Hans Ohlsson + 46 70 6888125, » www.wpd.se