Sweden cancels thirteen Baltic Sea wind projects over safety concerns

Sweden has canceled thirteen wind farm projects along its coasts in the Baltic Sea because of their impact on its defense capabilities, Swedish Environment Minister Romina Pourmokhtari announced on Monday, November 4. Construction permits for these offshore wind farms have been withdrawn because“they would have had an unacceptable impact” on the defense of the Scandinavian country, she explained at a press conference.

This decision comes following the publication of a study carried out by the armed forces, made public by the public television channel SVT on Friday, showing that these projects could significantly disrupt Swedish defense sensors in the Baltic. Wind turbine towers and rotating blades emit radar echoes and produce a number of other interferences, particularly underwater.

The “highly militarized” Kaliningrad enclave

In view of “the serious security situation that Sweden is currently experiencing, defense interests must weigh more heavily in the balance”underlined Defense Minister Pal Jonson during the press conference. The thirteen offshore wind farms would, if they had been maintained, have doubled the detection time of a missile attack, which would have gone from one to two minutes, he explained.

The minister added that the relative proximity of the Russian enclave “highly militarized” of Kaliningrad had been “a central element” in the decision taken by the Swedish government. Tensions in the region have increased since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. A new NATO military base has been opened in Rostock, northern Germany, with the aim of coordinating state forces members of the Alliance in the area facing Russia.

At the same time, energy needs from renewable sources are among the priorities. Electricity consumption in Sweden could reach at least 300 TWh by 2045, double the current level, according to a brief consulted by Agence France-Presse.